Nous avons publié coup sur coup deux Notes en novembre. La première s’inscrit dans notre long chantier d’exploration des liens entre attitudes environnementales et bien-être. Nous y exploitons la possibilité de croiser les plate-formes « Bien-être » et « Environnement » de l’enquête Camme. La seconde vient rendre compte d’un travail d’actualité d’A. Prati sur le lien entre inflation perçue et bien-être – un sujet que nous avions commencé à défricher dans notre Rapport 2021.
Pour la première fois, la Nouvelle-Zélande (Aotearoa de son nom Māori) publie une évaluation annuelle de l’action du gouvernement à l’aune d’indicateurs de bien-être. À nos yeux, il s’agit du travail qui aurait dû être conduit en France depuis 2016 en suivant la loi Sas sur les nouveaux indicateurs de richesse. Nous nous réjouissons de disposer désormais d’un modèle.
Observatoire
Note de l’Observatoire du Bien-être n°2022-13 : L’environnement et les Français, préoccupations et pratiques
En croisant les réponses aux questions des plates-formes « Bien-être » et « Environnement » de l’enquête Camme, nous vous proposons une analyse originale de l’évolution des préoccupations envrionnementales des Français, de leur disposition à agir, et l’intersection de cette disposition avec le bien-être subjectif.
Corin Blanc, « L’environnement et les Français, préoccupations et pratiques », Notes de l’Observatoire du bien-être (Paris: CEPREMAP, 14 novembre 2022), https://www.cepremap.fr/2022/11/note-de-lobservatoire-du-bien-etre-n2022-13-lenvironnement-et-les-francais-preoccupations-et-pratiques/.
Note de l’Observatoire du Bien-être n°2022-14 : Le Bien-être à l’épreuve de l’inflation
Résumant un article d’Alberto Prati, cette Note met en lumière l’hétérogénéité du sentiment d’exposition à l’inflation, et comment ce dernier pèse sur la satisfaction à l’égard du niveau de vie.
Alberto Prati et Mathieu Perona, « Le Bien-être à l’épreuve de l’inflation », Notes de l’Observatoire du bien-être (Paris: CEPREMAP, 17 novembre 2022), https://www.cepremap.fr/2022/11/note-de-lobservatoire-du-bien-etre-n2022-14-le-bien-etre-a-lepreuve-de-linflation/.
Time-Use and Subjective Well-Being: Is there a Preference for Activity Diversity?
Abstract: Using the American and the French time-use surveys, we examine whether people have a preference for a more diversified mix of activities, in the sense that, everything else equal, they experience a higher level of well-being when their agenda is multi-activity, rather than concentrated on a very small number of activities. This could be due to decreasing marginal utility, as is assumed for the consumption of goods, if each episode of time is conceived as yielding a certain level of utility per se. However, in the presence of returns to specialization, people would face a trade-off between the efficiency of specialization and the taste for diversity, as concerns time arrangements. We test these hypotheses and investigate potential gender differences with regard to these patterns.
Naomi Friedman-Sokuler et Claudia Senik, « Time-Use and Subjective Well-Being: Is There a Preference for Activity Diversity? », octobre 2022, https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03828272.
Teleworking and Life Satisfaction during COVID-19: The Importance of Family Structure
We carry out a difference-in-differences analysis of a representative real-time survey conducted as part of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and show that teleworking had a negative average effect on life satisfaction over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This average effect hides considerable heterogeneity reflecting genderrole asymmetry: lower life satisfaction is only found for unmarried men and women with school-age children. The negative effect for women with school-age children disappears in 2021, suggesting adaptation to new constraints and/or the adoption of coping strategies.
Claudia Senik et al., « Teleworking and life satisfaction during COVID-19: The importance of family structure », IZA discussion paper (Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), novembre 2022), https://covid-19.iza.org/publications/dp15715/.
Te Tai Wairoa: Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022
Le Ministère du Budget d’Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande publie pour la première fois un rapport complet qui évalue l’état du bien-être dans le pays et situe l’action du gouvernement à la lumière d’indicateurs de bien-être.
Te Tai Ōhanga – The Treasury, « Te Tai Wairoa: Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022 », Wellbeing Report (Te Tai Ōhanga – The Treasury, novembre 2022), https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/wellbeing-report/te-tai-wairoa-2022.
En France, un rapport de ce type était prévu par la loi n° 2015-411 du 13 avril 2015 sur le nouveaux indicateurs de richesse. Les versions publiées, de 2015 à 2018, n’ont jamais intégré d’analyse de l’action publique à la lumière de ces indicateurs. Depuis 2018, il ne subsiste que la reprise des indicateurs préconisés dans le tableau de bord de l’économie française établi par l’Insee.
Rapports du Crédoc
Le Crédoc a récemment publiée une série de rapports qui viennent s’articuler avec les axes d’analyse de l’Observatoire. Nous relevons en particulier :
Jörg Müller, « Sensibilité à l’environnement, action publique et fiscalité environnementale: l’opinion des Français en 2022 », Sourcing CREDOC (Paris: Crédoc et ADEME, novembre 2022), https://www.credoc.fr/publications/sensibilite-a-lenvironnement-action-publique-et-fiscalite-environnementale-lopinion-des-francais-en-2022.
Sandra Hoibian and others, Baromètre de La Jeunesse 2022 Tome 1 – Moral, État d’esprit et Engagement Citoyen Des Jeunes En 2022 – Rapport, Sourcing CREDOC (Paris: Crédoc et INJEP, September 2022), p. 66 https://www.credoc.fr/publications/barometre-de-la-jeunesse-2022-tome-1-moral-etat-desprit-et-engagement-citoyen-des-jeunes-en-2022-rapport
Sandra Hoibian, « Crise énergétique : une sobriété surtout contrainte, difficilement pérenne », Sourcing Crédoc (Paris: Crédoc et Caisse des Dépôts – Institut pour la recherche, octobre 2022), https://www.credoc.fr/publications/crise-energetique-une-sobriete-surtout-contrainte-difficilement-perenne.
Lu sur le web
Message aux étudiantes (que les étudiants peuvent lire aussi)
Relayé par l’AFSE, un message d’Agnès Benassy-Quere aux étudiantes et aux étudiants, autour de deux constats : (i) les études en économie offrent de nombreux débouchés ; (ii) alors que les étudiantes sont majoritaires en Master, elles représentent seulement 38 % des effectifs en thèse. Cela représente une inquiétante disparition de talents tant pour la discipline que pour les institutions, publiques en privées, en aval.
https://www.blog-afse.fr/billet/message-aux-etudiantes-que-les-etudiants-peuvent-lire-aussi
Comprendre et analyser la société française. La nomenclature socio-professionnelle
Un fort utile site a été publié le mois dernier, qui présente l’histoire, les concepts et les usages de la nomenclature des Professions et Catégories socio-professionnelles. Elle rassemble également de nombreux outils, comme des tables de transcodage entre versions de la nomenclature, ou les règles de passage de la PCS des individus à celle du ménage.
Nomenclature PCS, « Nomenclature PCS », consulté le 15 novembre 2022, https://www.nomenclature-pcs.fr/comprendre-et-analyser-la-soci.
A Theory of Subjective Wellbeing
Abstract: The study of “subjective wellbeing” has seen explosive growth in recent decades, opening important new discourses in personality and social psychology, happiness economics, and moral philosophy. Now it is moving into the policy domain. In this it has arguably overstepped its limits. The shallow theoretical base of subjective wellbeing research, the limitations of its measurement instruments, and its ethical naivety make policymaking on the basis of its findings a risky venture. The present volume is an attempt to shore up these weaknesses and set subjective wellbeing scholarship on a course for several more decades of growth and maturation. It presents a theory of subjective wellbeing in two parts. The first is the subjective wellbeing production function—a model of wellbeing as outcome. The second is the coalescence of being—a model of the self-actualization process by which wellbeing is achieved. This two-part model integrates ideas from subjective wellbeing studies with complementary ideas in analytical and continental philosophy, clinical, moral, and developmental psychology, and welfare economics. Importantly, this theory is ethically sensitive, bridging the gap between the philosophical and psychological perspectives on wellbeing in a way that illuminates the complexities facing the application of subjective wellbeing in public policy. The book also provides a thorough review of various ways in which subjective wellbeing can be studied empirically, and the hard trade-offs we face between long surveys that capture the richness of the concept and the parsimony required by social surveys and policy analysis.
Mark Fabian, A Theory of Subjective Wellbeing (Oxford University Press, 2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197635261.001.0001.
Money and Happiness in India: Is Relative Comparison Cardinal or Ordinal and Same for All?
Abstract: The relative income hypothesis is often invoked to explain the absence of a systematic long-run relationship between income and happiness. It is not yet clear with what and with whom individuals compare their income, whether the social comparison is cardinal or ordinal, and whether the effect of such reference income is the same for all in their evaluation of life satisfaction. Studies often estimate the relative income effect on happiness using cardinal average reference income by ordered probit regression, in which the covariate effects are constant across happiness levels. To overcome these twin issues, this paper specifies two alternative ordinal relative income measures, rich or poor relative to average income and rank position within the reference group income distribution, and estimates their differential effects across happiness distribution by panel random effects generalised ordered probit method. The panel REGOPROB estimates of WVS data of India over a longer period of 24 years from 1990 to 2014 across states show that Indian people are more sensitive to social comparison than to individual income and the ordinal comparison is stronger than the cardinal comparison in the evaluation of life satisfaction. A rise in the rank position within the reference group is relatively more important for people with average levels of life satisfaction than for individuals at the extremes of life satisfaction distribution, either dissatisfied/unhappy or satisfied/happy Indians.
T. Lakshmanasamy, « Money and Happiness in India: Is Relative Comparison Cardinal or Ordinal and Same for All? », Journal of Quantitative Economics, 12 octobre 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40953-022-00326-7.
The Equality Paradox: Gender Equality Intensifies Male Advantages in Adolescent Subjective Well-Being
Abstract: Individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB) is an important marker of development and social progress. As psychological health issues often begin during adolescence, understanding the factors that enhance SWB among adolescents is critical to devising preventive interventions. However, little is known about how institutional contexts contribute to adolescent SWB. Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 and 2018 data from 78 countries (N = 941,475), we find that gender gaps in adolescents’ SWB (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect) are larger in more gender-equal countries. Results paradoxically indicated that gender equality enhances boys’ but not girls’ SWB, suggesting that greater gender equality may facilitate social comparisons across genders. This may lead to an increased awareness of discrimination against females and consequently lower girls’ SWB, diluting the overall benefits of gender equality. These findings underscore the need for researchers and policy-makers to better understand macro-level factors, beyond objective gender equality, that support girls’ SWB.
Jiesi Guo et al., « The Equality Paradox: Gender Equality Intensifies Male Advantages in Adolescent Subjective Well-Being », Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 7 octobre 2022, 1461672221125619, https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221125619.
The Midlife Crisis
Abstract: This paper documents a longitudinal crisis of midlife among the inhabitants of rich nations. Yet middle-aged citizens in our data sets are close to their peak earnings, have typically experienced little or no illness, reside in some of the safest countries in the world, and live in the most prosperous era in human history. This is paradoxical and troubling. The finding is consistent, however, with the prediction – one little-known to economists – of Elliott Jaques (1965). Our analysis does not rest on elementary cross-sectional analysis. Instead the paper uses panel and through-time data on, in total, approximately 500,000 individuals. It checks that the key results are not due to cohort effects. Nor do we rely on simple life-satisfaction measures. The paper shows that there are approximately quadratic hill-shaped patterns in data on midlife suicide, sleeping problems, alcohol dependence, concentration difficulties, memory problems, intense job strain, disabling headaches, suicidal feelings, and extreme depression. We believe the seriousness of this societal problem has not been grasped by the affluent world’s policy-makers.
Osea Giuntella et al., « The Midlife Crisis », IZA Discussion Paper (Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), septembre 2022), https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/izaizadps/dp15533.htm.
Wealth redistribution promotes happiness
Abstract: How much happiness could be gained if the world’s wealth were distributed more equally? Despite decades of research investigating the relationship between money and happiness, no experimental work has quantified this effect for people across the global economic spectrum. We estimated the total gain in happiness generated when a pair of high-net-worth donors redistributed US$2 million of their wealth in $10,000 cash transfers to 200 people. Our preregistered analyses offer causal evidence that cash transfers substantially increase happiness among economically diverse individuals around the world. Recipients in lower-income countries exhibited happiness gains three times larger than those in higher-income countries. Still, the cash provided detectable benefits for people with household incomes up to $123,000.
Ryan J. Dwyer et Elizabeth W. Dunn, « Wealth Redistribution Promotes Happiness », Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no 46 (15 novembre 2022): e2211123119, https://do i.org/10.1073/pnas.2211123119.
The general fault in our fault lines
The data used for the 2021 article (abstract below) has now been made available.
Abstract: Pervading global narratives suggest that political polarization is increasing, yet the accuracy of such group meta-perceptions has been drawn into question. A recent US study suggests that these beliefs are inaccurate and drive polarized beliefs about out-groups. However, it also found that informing people of inaccuracies reduces those negative beliefs. In this work, we explore whether these results generalize to other countries. To achieve this, we replicate two of the original experiments with 10,207 participants across 26 countries. We focus on local group divisions, which we refer to as fault lines. We find broad generalizability for both inaccurate meta-perceptions and reduced negative motive attribution through a simple disclosure intervention. We conclude that inaccurate and negative group meta-perceptions are exhibited in myriad contexts and that informing individuals of their misperceptions can yield positive benefits for intergroup relations. Such generalizability highlights a robust phenomenon with implications for political discourse worldwide.
Kai Ruggeri et al., « The General Fault in Our Fault Lines », Nature Human Behaviour 5, no 10 (octobre 2021): 1369‑80, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01092-x; Tomas Folke, Kai Ruggeri, et Jeffrey Lees, « Faultlines: Pre-Data Collection », 23 mars 2020, https://osf.io/s2r9v/.
The Paradox of Wealthy Nations’ Low Adolescent Life Satisfaction
Abstract: Using PISA 2018 data from nearly half a million 15-year-olds across 72 middle- and high-income countries, this study investigates the relationship between economic development and adolescent subjective well-being. Findings indicate a negative log-linear relationship between per-capita GDP and adolescent life satisfaction. The negative nexus stands in stark contrast to the otherwise positive relationship found between GDP per capita and adult life satisfaction for the same countries. Results are robust to various model specifications and both macro and micro approaches. Moreover, our analysis suggests that this apparent paradox can largely be attributed to higher learning intensity in advanced countries. Effects are found to be more pronounced for girls than for boys.
Robert Rudolf et Dirk Bethmann, « The Paradox of Wealthy Nations’ Low Adolescent Life Satisfaction », Journal of Happiness Studies, 26 octobre 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00595-2.
The Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Subjective Wellbeing Inequality: An Important Role for Skewness
Abstract: We argue that the relationship between individual satisfaction with life (SWL) and SWL inequality is more complex than described by earlier research. Our measures of SWL inequality include indices designed specifically for ordinal data as well as often used (but inappropriate) measures suited to cardinal data. Using inequality indices derived by Cowell and Flachaire designed for use with ordinal data, our analysis shows that skewness of the SWL distribution, rather than inequality per se, matters for individual SWL outcomes. The empirical analysis is based on repeated cross-section data obtained from the World Values Survey. Our results are consistent with there being negative externalities for an individual’s SWL arising from people who are low in the SWL distribution, with positive externalities arising from people who are high in the SWL distribution.
Arthur Grimes, Stephen P. Jenkins, et Florencia Tranquilli, « The Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Subjective Wellbeing Inequality: An Important Role for Skewness », Journal of Happiness Studies, 9 novembre 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00591-6.
The Midlife Crisis
Abstract: This paper documents a longitudinal crisis of midlife among the inhabitants of rich nations. Yet middle-aged citizens in our data sets are close to their peak earnings, have typically experienced little or no illness, reside in some of the safest countries in the world, and live in the most prosperous era in human history. This is paradoxical and troubling. The finding is consistent, however, with the prediction – one little-known to economists – of Elliott Jaques (1965). Our analysis does not rest on elementary cross-sectional analysis. Instead the paper uses panel and through-time data on, in total, approximately 500,000 individuals. It checks that the key results are not due to cohort effects. Nor do we rely on simple life-satisfaction measures. The paper shows that there are approximately quadratic hill-shaped patterns in data on midlife suicide, sleeping problems, alcohol dependence, concentration difficulties, memory problems, intense job strain, disabling headaches, suicidal feelings, and extreme depression. We believe the seriousness of this societal problem has not been grasped by the affluent world’s policy-makers.
Osea Giuntella et al., « The Midlife Crisis », IZA Discussion Paper (Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), septembre 2022), https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/izaizadps/dp15533.htm.
Measurement Invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale in South Korea
Abstract: This study examined the cross-group and temporal measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale in Korea. A nationally representative sample (N = 13,824) and a convenience sample collected at four-time points over approximately 14 months (N = 338) were used. Full measurement invariance (i.e., equal factor loadings and intercepts) was supported across groups based on gender, age, education, data collection method (face-to-face versus non-face-to-face), and two alternative translations of the scale. Temporal measurement invariance was also supported. Accordingly, the same underlying construct is measured, and the items of the scale are understood and answered similarly across groups and across time in Korea. Supplemental analysis revealed that Item 5 was not invariant between Korea and Japan, with Korean respondents tending to rate this item higher than Japanese respondents.
Mohsen Joshanloo, « Measurement Invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale in South Korea », European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 11 novembre 2022, https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000745.
Earnings, Intersectional Earnings Inequality, Disappointment in One’s Life Achievements and Life (Dis)satisfaction
Abstract: Most research investigating inequality as a moderator of the effect of income on wellbeing focuses on inequality within geographic contexts. This study asks whether the association of income with subjective wellbeing varies with level of inequality within groups defined by the intersection of dichotomized race (white versus non-white) and gender. Two dimensions of subjective wellbeing are investigated—life (dis)satisfaction, and disappointment in one’s life achievements. Results of partial proportional odds and logistic regression analyses of data from the study of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) indicate that the association of individual earnings with life (dis)satisfaction varies by level of inequality within intersectional groups. No evidence for moderation is observed in the analysis of disappointment. Within-group inequality varies much more by gender than race, and the results can be interpreted as indicating a gender difference in the effect of income on life satisfaction. The results are also consistent with the income rank hypothesis, which proposes that income effects will be larger among those in lower inequality groups than those in higher inequality groups. Although the statistical power to evaluate race differences is limited by the size and composition of the MIDUS sample, additional analyses suggest that the income-rank pattern might extend to race differences in (dis)satisfaction. The results can be broadly interpreted as suggesting that intersectional inequality does not influence the aspirations that provide the comparative standard for disappointment, but it does shape the way that the contemporaneous earnings differences relevant to life (dis)satisfaction are framed in social comparisons.
William Magee, « Earnings, Intersectional Earnings Inequality, Disappointment in One’s Life Achievements and Life (Dis)Satisfaction », Journal of Happiness Studies, 10 novembre 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00599-y.
Should bads be inflicted all at once, like Machiavelli said? Evidence from life-satisfaction data
Abstract: Is wellbeing, measured by life satisfaction, higher if the same number of negative events is spread out rather than bunched in time? Is it better if positive events are spread out or bunched? We answer these questions empirically, exploiting biannual data on six positive and twelve negative life events in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia panel. Accounting for selection, anticipation, and adaptation, we find a tipping point when it comes to negative events: once people experience about two negative events, their wellbeing depreciates disproportionally as more and more events occur in a given period of time. For positive events, effects are weakly decreasing in size. So for a person’s wellbeing it is better if both the good and the bad is spread out rather than bunched in time. This corresponds better with the classic economic presumption of diminishing marginal effects rather than Machiavelli’s prescript of inflicting all injuries at once, further motivating the use of life satisfaction as a suitable proxy for utility. Yet, differences are small, with complete smoothing of all negative events over all people and periods calculated to yield no more than a 12% reduction in the total negative wellbeing impact of negative events.
Paul Frijters, Christian Krekel, et Aydogan Ulker, « Should Bads Be Inflicted All at Once, like Machiavelli Said? Evidence from Life-Satisfaction Data », Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 205 (1 janvier 2023): 1‑27, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.10.047.
Identity, immigration, and subjective well-being: why are natives so sharply divided on immigration issues?
Abstract: We put forward differences in the form of national identity across natives as a key mechanism explaining the sharp public divide on immigration issues. We show that inflows of migrants into local areas can be harmful for the self-reported well-being of natives, but this is only true for natives who self-identify with an ethnic form of national identity. On the other hand, we provide some evidence to suggest that immigration may be utility enhancing for natives with a civic form of national identity. We also show how differences in national identity significantly predict voting preferences in the UK referendum on European Union membership where concern with immigration issues were a salient factor. Drawing on identity economics, our proposed explanation is that for natives with an ethnic form of national identity, any positive economic benefits associated with immigration may not be enough to outweigh losses in identity-based utility.
Peter Howley et Muhammad Waqas, « Identity, immigration, and subjective well-being: why are natives so sharply divided on immigration issues? », Oxford Economic Papers, 18 novembre 2022, gpac045, https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpac045.