Toute l’équipe de l’Observatoire du bien-être du CEPREMAP vous souhaite une bonne et heureuse année 2024 !
Le remarquable What Works Centre for Well-Being a annoncé en décembre sa fermeture. Il s’agit là d’une grande perte pour toutes les personnes engagées dans la conception d’une action publique informée par le bien-être, et une décision à contre temps au regard de l’engagement croissant autour de ce thème, à commencer par les initiatives du centre WISE de l’OCDE. Nous remercions chaleureusement toute l’équipe du WWCWB pour son riche travail, et allons poursuivre avec une détermination nouvelle dans cette voie.
À cette fin, nous lançons déjà trois recrutements à l’Observatoire, un post-doctorat et deux postes d’assistant-e de recherche. N’hésitez pas à les faire circuler !

Observatoire

Note de l’Observatoire du Bien-être n°2023-16 : Migre-t-on pour être heureux ?

Abstract: It is well-known that the wealthier are more likely to have Right-leaning political preferences. We here in addition consider the role of the individual’s starting position, and in particular their upward social mobility relative to their parents. In 18 waves of UK panel data, both own and parental social status are independently positively associated with Right-leaning voting and political preferences: given their own social status, the upwardly-mobile are therefore more Left-wing. We investigate a number of potential mediators: these results do not reflect the relationship between well-being and own and parents’ social status but are rather linked to the individual’s beliefs about how fair society is.

Clark, Andrew E. and Cotofan, Maria, (2023), Are the upwardly mobile more left-wing?, CEP Discussion Papers, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

Sad news

The What Works Wellbeing has issued on Dec. 12th a Statement of closure. In a difficult environment, the WWWB was not able to raise enough funding to continue its operation. It is a severe loss for our community, of a dricing force for policy change, from reliance on subjective well-being metrics in policy-making to campaigns to end loneliness or the delicate situation of working with a terminal illness. The Centre will continue its operation until April 2024. We sincerely hope the rich treasure of analyses currently hosted on their website can find a permanent location to remain the treasure trove it is for all of us.

Lu sur le web

Distance Work and Life Satisfaction after the COVID-19 Pandemics

Abstract: We use data of the 10th European Social Survey containing information on COVID-19 and work at distance. We find that working with employers that accept working from home or place of choice less than before the COVID-19 period impacts negatively and significantly on respondents’ wellbeing. We calculate that the reduction of this opportunity produces a fall of 5.6 percent in the probability of declaring high life satisfaction, the effect being concentrated in the subsample of respondents with work-life balance problems where the magnitude of the impact goes up to a maximum of 11 percent. Our findings contribute to explain the COVID-19 Easterlin paradox (contemporary occurrence of a sharp fall in GDP and non decrease/increase, in life satisfaction in the first 2020 COVID-19 year in many countries) and the great resignation – the rise of quit rates after COVID-19, partly motivated by absence of offers of hybrid contracts allowing a mix of work in presence and work at distance.

Becchetti, Leonardo, Conzo, Gianluigi and Pisani, Fabio, (2023), Distance Work and Life Satisfaction after the COVID-19 Pandemics, No 566, CEIS Research Paper, Tor Vergata University, CEIS.

Walk the Talk: Measuring Green Preferences with Social Media Data

Abstract: We created a unique data set based on social media data by collecting and geo-localising all the tweets of 54 thousand Swedish citizens from January 2019 to June 2019. This allows us to construct an attractive individual-level measure of preferences for pro-environmental behavior. We demonstrate this by using our measure in two applications. We first document a subjective well-being gap between individuals with and without green preferences, using the average sentiment scores in tweets as a proxy of individuals’ subjective well-being. We then investigate the existence of a gender gap in green preferences and the propensity to act for the environment, relating our measure to publicly available data on electric and hybrid car registrations and political support for environmental policies in Sweden.

De Rock, Bram and Le Henaff, Florine, (2023), Walk the Talk: Measuring Green Preferences with Social Media Data, No 2023-17, Working Papers ECARES, ULB — Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

Les retraités pendant le confinement : un bonheur impossible ?

Résumé: L’enquête CONSOL2 (CONfinement, SOLidarités et SOLitude) réalisée par la Cnav entre avril et mai 2021 a rassemblé plus de 200 000 réponses dont 73 000 commentaires libres de retraités âgés de 60 à 89 ans décrivant leur expérience du confinement. Une analyse textuelle de ces commentaires révèle une classification en quatre catégories de retraités : un premier groupe de retraités manifestant un manque de contact avec leur famille et leurs proches pendant les confinements, un deuxième groupe de retraités évoquant leurs difficultés financières, puis un ensemble de retraités discutant de politique divisé en deux catégories distinctes : l’une critiquant l’action du gouvernement face à la pandémie et l’autre préoccupée par l’avenir de la planète et des jeunes générations. Analysés de façon statistique et sociologique, ces commentaires d’assurés du régime général de retraite témoignent d’une perception de la notion du bonheur différant selon le sexe, l’âge et la catégorie socioprofessionnelle. Chez certains, la crise a remis en cause cette notion dans les activités du quotidien quand chez d’autres elle a conduit à des réflexions plus générales interrogeant l’évolution du bonheur à travers le temps.

Hassani, Z. (2023). Les retraités pendant le confinement : Un bonheur impossible ? (49; Cadr’@ge). Caisse Nationale de l’Assurance Vieillesse. https://www.statistiques-recherche.lassuranceretraite.fr/cadrge-n-49-les-retraites-pendant-le-confinement-un-bonheur-impossible/

The surprising connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

Quick take: How do you spend your time at work and what is it costing you? Slack’s Workforce Index, based on survey responses from more than 10,000 desk workers around the globe, uncovers new findings on how to structure the workday to maximize productivity and strengthen employee well-being and satisfaction.

Key learnings include:

• Employees who log off at the end of the workday register 20% higher productivity scores than those who feel obligated to work after hours.
• Making time for breaks during the workday improves employee productivity and well-being, and yet half of all desk workers say they rarely or never take breaks.
• On average, desk workers say that the ideal amount of focus time is around four hours a day, and more than two hours a day in meetings is the tipping point at which a majority of workers feel overburdened by meetings.
• Three out of every four desk workers report working in the 3 to 6pm timeframe, but of those, only one in four consider these hours highly productive.

Slack. (2023, décembre 5). The surprising connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity. Slack. https://slack.com/intl/en-gb/blog/news/the-surprising-connection-between-after-hours-work-and-decreased-productivity

Geographic Reference Income and the Subjective Wellbeing of Australians

Abstract: In this paper panel data is used to estimate the relationship between geographic reference income and subjective wellbeing in Australia. Recent cross-sectional US-based studies suggest that the income of other people in a neighbourhood—geographic reference income—impacts on individual wellbeing but is mediated by geographic scale. On controlling for a household’s own income, subjective wellbeing is raised by neighbourhood income and lowered by region-wide income. However, these findings could be driven by the self-selection of innately happy or unhappy individuals into higher-income areas. This study’s methodology takes advantage of panel-data modelling to show that unobserved individual heterogeneity is in fact correlated with reference income, but on curbing its impacts through the inclusion of fixed-effects we find that there is still a positive relationship between reference income and subjective wellbeing at the neighbourhood level. However, we detect no relationship at the region-wide level. Additionally, the subjective wellbeing relationship is the same no matter an individual’s rank in the distribution of incomes within an area. The neighbourhood wellbeing relationship has implications for policies addressing residential segregation and social mixing.

Phelps, C., Harris, M.N., Rowley, S. et al. Geographic Reference Income and the Subjective Wellbeing of Australians. J Happiness Stud (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00707-6

Undervaluing the positive impact of kindness starts early

Abstract: Prosociality can create social connections that increase well-being among both givers and recipients, yet concerns about how another person might respond can make people reluctant to act prosocially. Existing research suggests these concerns may be miscalibrated such that people underestimate the positive impact their prosociality will have on recipients. Understanding when miscalibrated expectations emerge in development is critical for understanding when misplaced cognitive barriers might discourage social engagement and for understanding when interventions to build relationships could begin. Two experiments asking children (aged 8–17, Experiment 1; aged 4–7, Experiment 2) and adults to perform the same random act of kindness for another person document that both groups significantly underestimate how “big” the act of kindness will seem to recipients, and how positive their act will make recipients feel. Participants significantly undervalued the positive impact of prosociality across ages. Miscalibrated psychological barriers to social connection may emerge early in life.

Echelbarger, M., & Epley, N. (2023). Undervaluing the positive impact of kindness starts early. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(10), 2989–2994. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001433

Does growing up in economic hard times increase compassion? The case of attitudes towards immigration

Abstract: There is some evidence that people who grew up in economic hard times more strongly favor government redistribution and are more compassionate towards the poor. We investigate how inclusive this increase in compassion is by studying how macroeconomic conditions experienced during young adulthood affect immigration attitudes. Using US and global data, we show that experiencing bad macroeconomic circumstances strengthen anti-immigration attitudes for life. Moreover, we find that people become generally more outgroup hostile. Our results thus suggest that the underlying motive for more government redistribution is not a universal increase in compassion, but more self-interested and restricted to one’s ingroup.

Bien-être des enseignants : après la pandémie, une éclaircie ? Tout dépend du pays

Introduction: Au printemps 2020, la pandémie Covid-19 heurtait violemment les systèmes éducatifs partout dans le monde. S’en sont suivis des mois d’alternance de confinements et de déconfinements, accompagnés de protocoles sanitaires plus ou moins stricts dans les écoles. En 2021, la première édition du Baromètre international de la santé et du bien-être des personnels de l’éducation (I-BEST) avait objectivé l’épuisement des enseignants, notamment en France, en Belgique et au Québec. Deux ans plus tard, en 2023, alors que la pandémie est passée au second plan des préoccupations, la deuxième édition du Baromètre offre une nouvelle photo de la situation dans ces trois territoires. Comment le ressenti des enseignants y a-t-il évolué en deux ans ?

Vercambre-Jacquot, Marie-Noël. « Bien-être des enseignants : après la pandémie, une éclaircie ? Tout dépend du pays ». The Conversation, 18 décembre 2023. http://theconversation.com/bien-etre-des-enseignants-apres-la-pandemie-une-eclaircie-tout-depend-du-pays-219529.

Cultural fit of emotions and subjective well-being: Replicating comparative evidence and extending it to the Mediterranean region

Abstract: Greater “emotional fit” with one’s cultural group is often associated with positive psychological and relational outcomes. However, the few empirical studies on this link have been limited to the comparison of Anglo-Western, independent, and East Asian, interdependent cultural contexts. In the current paper, we conceptually replicated findings from three studies on the link between emotional fit and well-being in Anglo-Western and East Asian contexts, using different methods and more comprehensive samples. Moreover, we expanded emotional fit research to the understudied Mediterranean region, characterized by an emphasis on “honor” and a distinct blend of independence and interdependence. We collected data from N = 3,097 participants from 12 countries and asked participants to report their emotional experience in 10 hypothetical situations and to rate their well-being in different domains. Our results largely replicated established positive links between emotional fit and well-being in the Anglo-West and East-Asia, as i) experiencing more culturally valued emotions (from which we infer cultural fit) was linked to better general well-being; ii) actual, calculated emotional fit in relationship-focused situations predicted better relational well-being; and iii) only in East Asia calculated emotional fit in culturally central contexts predicted psychological well-being and thriving. Our exploratory analyses on the Mediterranean region showed a non-homogenous pattern: while general well-being was consistently most strongly predicted by the intensity of disengaging emotions, relational and psychological well-being were differentially predicted by calculated emotional fit in relationship-focused situations across different Mediterranean sub-regions. The current work consolidates insights into how our well-being is shaped by the interplay between culture and emotional fit and strengthens evidence that there may be ‘universalism without uniformity’.

Kirchner-Häusler, Alexander, Jozefien De Leersnyder, Ayse K. Uskul, Fattana Mirzada, Vivian L. Vignoles, Rosa Rodríguez-Bailón, Vanessa A. Castillo, et al. « Cultural fit of emotions and subjective well-being: Replicating comparative evidence and extending it to the Mediterranean region ». Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology 5 (1 janvier 2023): 100171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100171.

Accounting for the gender gap in adolescents’ life satisfaction: evidence from nationally representative samples of school attendees in Luxembourg

Abstract: Research on gender differences in adolescents’ life satisfaction has reported inconsistent findings to date. The present study aimed to (a) ascertain whether a gender gap in life satisfaction exists in Luxembourg, (b) estimate the predictive power of gender when controlling for well-identified predictors of life satisfaction, and (c) assess potential gender differences in our predictors’ influence on life satisfaction. We used data from 2006 to 2022 pertaining to nationally representative samples of school attendees in Luxembourg (n = 46,937) to achieve our first research goal. We relied on data collected in 2022 (n = 9,432) to achieve our two other research goals. We found boys to consistently report higher life satisfaction than girls over time. However, gender did not predict life satisfaction when controlling for our other predictors. Moreover, the influence of most of the examined factors on life satisfaction did not vary with gender.

Brisson, R., Mendes, F. G., & Catunda, C. (2023). Accounting for the gender gap in adolescents’ life satisfaction : Evidence from nationally representative samples of school attendees in Luxembourg. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 28(1), 2283563. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2023.2283563