What Is the Structure of South African Happiness Equations? Evidence from Quality of Life Surveys

Autor/inn/en	Hinks, Timothy; Gruen, Carola
Titel	What Is the Structure of South African Happiness Equations? Evidence from Quality of Life Surveys
Quelle	In: Social Indicators Research, 82 (2007) 2, S.311-336 (26 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0303-8300
DOI	10.1007/s11205-006-9036-8
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Well Being; Self Disclosure (Individuals); Socioeconomic Status; Geographic Location; Developed Nations; Age; Marital Status; Employment Level; Income; Family Income; Psychological Patterns; Equations (Mathematics); South Africa; South Africa (Durban) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Well-being; Wellness; Wohlbefinden; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Developed countries; Industriestaat; Industrieland; Alter; Lebensalter; Familienstand; Beschäftigungsgrad; Einkommen; Familieneinkommen; Equations; Mathematics; Gleichungslehre; Südafrika; Süd-Afrika; Republik Südafrika; Südafrikanische Republik
Abstract	The issue of what determines subjective well-being has been at the centre of a recent flurry of research in the economics field. A necessary part of this understanding is the role relative positions (economic, social, geographic) of economic agents, particularly individuals, play in life (commonly referred to in the literature as rivalry). In this paper, we concentrate on whether the structure of happiness equations of South Africa are the same/similar to those of developed countries. The analysis uses three of the Durban Quality of Life Studies. Firstly these three data series are pooled and a variety of covariates are tested for their significance on happiness. These include age, marital status, employment status, household income and relative household income. Next we estimate yearly cross-sectional models to see if there are consistent findings of what determines happiness across the period considered. Our findings indicate there may be some structural differences between results from the Durban studies and those of international findings. Age appears to play no role in happiness likelihood, nor does marital status. Being unemployed does significantly and negatively effect happiness as does the size of household income, relative household income and whether living in a formal dwelling place. When we distinguish between employment categories we find that being self-employed negatively affects happiness, contradicting findings for developed countries. (Author).
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Update	2017/4/10