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Experienced Poverty and Income Poverty in Mexico: A Subjective Well-Being Approach
Abstract
This paper uses a life-satisfaction conception of well-being to define experienced poverty. Based on a domains-of-life approach, it shows that experienced poverty is a broader concept than income poverty and that they lead to substantial dissonance in the classification of persons as poor. It is argued that experienced poverty better captures the complexity of being human. It is shown that raising the income received by persons does not automatically translate into greater well-being. It states that public policy should be concerned not only about getting people out of income poverty, but also about placing them in a life-satisfying situation.
... En un estudio realizado por Mariano Rojas (2008) plantea una interesante distinción entre la pobreza de ingresos y la pobreza experimentada. Según el autor, aunque ambas están relacionadas, no son dos caras de la misma moneda. ...
... En este sentido, Rojas destaca la importancia de considerar ambas dimensiones al abordar este complejo fenómeno. Rojas (2008Rojas ( : 1079Rojas ( -1080 introduce el enfoque de los ámbitos de la vida como un método para medir la pobreza que se enfoca en múltiples aspectos del bienestar de una persona. El enfoque reconoce que la pobreza es un fenómeno complejo que afecta diversas áreas de la vida, como la salud, la educación, las relaciones sociales y las condiciones de vida. ...
... En este sentido, aunque en México se han realizado estudios sobre los determinantes de las actitudes medioambientales (Graizbord y González Granillo, 2019) y el análisis del bienestar subjetivo (Rojas, 2008), existen pocos que vinculen la salud subjetiva con la aceptación de políticas ambientales. Un caso excepcional es el estudio de Filippini y Martínez-Cruz (2016). ...
Nadie puede llamarse a la sorpresa cuando se afirma que el modelo de desarrollo neoliberal promueve y genera un conjunto de desigualdades que tienen como punto de partida el acceso a salarios justos y dignos. Aunado a esto, el proceso de eliminación de los derechos sociales ha profundizado las inequidades.
A la par, han caminado dos factores que inciden en lo anterior. Por un lado, el planteamiento axiológico del neoliberalismo según el cual la colectividad debe entenderse como un conjunto de individuos y no como una entidad jurídico-social, por ello, el ideal es la formación de sujetos que aprehendan las reglas del mercado y ajusten su bienestar subjetivo a estas, de tal suerte que su capacidad de agencia determinará su valor social en correspondencia con su valor económico.
Por otro lado, el conjunto de medidas política y burocráticas para apropiarse de las ciudades y que, en correspondencia, pierdan su valor social a través de una planeación urbana que privilegia la mercantilización del suelo, lo que deriva en una sociedad organizada a partir de los derechos individuales que son mediados por la capacidad de consumo, y no por la calidad política de los sujetos y los derechos colectivos. Por ello, los pobres son entendidos y tratados como vidas desechables, fugas del sistema que mantiene y sostiene al mercado, que deben ser eliminados, no a través de medidas para integrarlos a la ciudad y sociedad consolidada, sino a través del olvido y la desatención, de su segregación de los beneficios del desarrollo.
En este marco de ideas, ¿cómo se entiende el bienestar y el acceso a la salud? ¿Qué recursos echan a andar para costear sus enfermedades? ¿Cuáles son los efectos de su exclusión y segregación en el bienestar subjetivo?
Para ellos, proponemos analizar el caso de San Juan de Abajo, en León, Guanajuato, México.
... As W. I. Thomas (1928) famously argued, "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences." Subjective indicators exert significant and independent influence on individuals' well-being (Otis, 2017;Rojas, 2008). However, most related studies have been cross-sectional and conducted in Western and Christian settings (Jung, 2022;Lechner & Leopold, 2015;Schnittker, 2020), leaving a gap in understanding how religion influences perceived hardships, especially in non-Christian dominant societies. ...
... However, relative income and other objective indicators cannot fully capture the whole range of individuals' diverse needs and preferences. Most relevant to our research focus, subjective poverty is argued to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of human experiences than objective (e.g., monetary) measures of poverty (Rojas, 2008). Moreover, defining meaningful reference groups for comparing relative income is challenging: Although studies often consider objective socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and education level as benchmarks (e.g., FitzRoy & Nolan, 2022), it remains unclear whether individuals actually compare themselves to those selected groups (Adjaye-Gbewonyo & Kawachi, 2012). ...
... Qualitative evidence from Hong Kong highlights the crucial role of subjective poverty in the poverty-health vicious circle (Chung et al., 2020), while a range of quantitative studies reveal its negative impact on health and life satisfaction (e.g., Cao et al., 2022;Chang et al., 2020;Liu & Fu, 2022). Thus, extending beyond objective indicators, this study uses the measure of subjective poverty-which refers to individuals' subjective perception of their financial/material situation (Otis, 2017;Peng et al., 2020;Rojas, 2008)-to examine the role of social comparison on life satisfaction. ...
Researchers have long been interested in the impact of poverty on life satisfaction, as well as in the buffering role of religion within this association. However, longitudinal evidence is limited, leaving uncertainties about how religion buffers this association, especially concerning the subjective aspect of poverty and in non-Christian-dominant societies. This study used two-wave panel data from Hong Kong (N = 1,006), where more than half of the population identifies as having no religion and all major world faiths coexist peacefully. We employed the cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) to examine the longitudinal associations between economic poverty, subjective poverty, and life satisfaction while exploring the buffering effect of religion. The results of CLPM showed that subjective poverty had a long-term negative impact on life satisfaction, highlighting the pivotal role of social comparison in influencing individuals’ life satisfaction. Furthermore, religion was found to buffer the temporal association between subjective poverty and life satisfaction; this buffering effect persists within religious groups, regardless of religious attendance. This paper highlights the significance of subjective poverty in influencing life satisfaction and contributes to our understanding of whether and how religion matters to people’s life satisfaction among those experiencing poverty.
... Income Evaluation Question (IEQ), Minimum Income Question (MIQ), and Centre for Social Policy Question (CSP) (Wang et al., 2020b;Želinský et al., 2022) are the cases. Third, the life Satisfaction Question (LSQ), that is, the poverty status of respondents were evaluated according to their self-assessed life satisfaction (Rojas, 2008;Wang et al., 2011). This approach relates the poverty measure to individual's subjective welfare and happiness, captures subjective poverty in the different life domains, reflecting a multidimensional attribute (Ravallion and Lokshin, 2002;Rojas, 2008). ...
... Third, the life Satisfaction Question (LSQ), that is, the poverty status of respondents were evaluated according to their self-assessed life satisfaction (Rojas, 2008;Wang et al., 2011). This approach relates the poverty measure to individual's subjective welfare and happiness, captures subjective poverty in the different life domains, reflecting a multidimensional attribute (Ravallion and Lokshin, 2002;Rojas, 2008). Rojas (2008) used the given life satisfaction categorical answering scale to define a subjective poverty line, which referred to a person's various life domains assessment but not limited to income. ...
... This approach relates the poverty measure to individual's subjective welfare and happiness, captures subjective poverty in the different life domains, reflecting a multidimensional attribute (Ravallion and Lokshin, 2002;Rojas, 2008). Rojas (2008) used the given life satisfaction categorical answering scale to define a subjective poverty line, which referred to a person's various life domains assessment but not limited to income. To distinguish objective poverty measure (related to income) from subjective poverty measure and get a broader meaning of households' tourism participation on subjective well-being, we use the LSQ measure to define subjective relative poverty. ...
Debates on whether tourism has pro-poor effects remain imperative and unsettled owing to the discrepancy of research perspectives, estimation techniques, data source, study regions, and variables designs, etc. With the eradication of absolute poverty in China, the focus of tourism-relative poverty nexus could get deeper insights into the poverty reduction efficacy of tourism development in developing countries. This study examines the impacts of rural households’ tourism participation on relative poverty using the survey data from 22 pro-poor tourism villages located in western China and the endogenous switching probit (ESP) model. The results show that participating in rural tourism reduces both objective and subjective relative poverty. However, it has no direct effect on subjective poverty, but exerts an indirect effect by decreasing objective poverty. Furthermore, heterogeneous effect analysis shows dual impacts. On the one hand, it brings reduction of relative poverty probability for tourism participants; on the other hand, it exacerbates the relative gap by individual endogenous capital endowments and narrows the gap by exogenous targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) policy interventions. Our findings extend theoretical significance of the pro-poor tourism arguments by clarifying the pro-poor effects and the pathways of rural tourism on both objective and subjective relative poverty at the household level. It also provides empirical evidence for improving the current anti-poverty policy related to rural tourism in China.
... Extreme poverty is commonly associated with very low levels of well-being (Rojas, 2008), and is often thought to have highly negative effects on happiness and future expectations (Graham, 2005). Studies have also been conducted on the influence of purely material and economic factors on happiness and well-being among the homeless in countries such as the United States, Mexico, or Spain (Ellen & Dastrup, 2012;Oberg, 2011;Panadero et al., 2015;Rojas, 2011). ...
... Those studies identified the extent and nature of life satisfaction as an overall synthesis of various aspects of an individual's life, where the level of income has a limited impact on satisfaction in other important aspects of their lives. As a result, some individuals with low-income levels are happy, due to the satisfaction obtained in other areas of their lives (Kahneman & Krueger, 2006;Rojas, 2008). ...
... According to these findings, having a larger and better social network as well as having better health are associated with higher levels of overall happiness and a better outlook for the future. Furthermore, the model shows how income has a limited influence on overall happiness and outlook for the future, as reported by Biswas- Diener & Diener (2006), Rojas (2008), and Vázquez (2013), who mention how economic aspects barely affect the situation of people living in a homeless situation. In most cases, the financial support they receive from government entities is scarce, therefore the impact of this aspect on their overall happiness and outlook for the future is limited. ...
People living homeless are quite heterogeneous groups, including different subgroups with specific characteristics that vary substantially. Within this group, women living homeless are an understudied subgroup with specific necessities which in most cases have not been addressed in general studies related to the group. The present study examines determining factors that influence the levels of overall happiness and outlook for the future of women living homeless. To fulfill this objective, a survey was conducted on a group of women living homeless in the city of Madrid (Spain). The results of a structural equation modeling analysis found that having a larger and stable social support network, loneliness, and good health conditions without any problems associated with drug abuse are the main factors influencing their levels of overall happiness and their outlook for the future. The proposed model has also shown that stressful life events play an important role in the analysis, unlike economic aspects, which have a limited impact on their situation. This article provides new information and innovation in research about homelessness, in particular women living homeless, thus being important for extending and replicating its findings to an international context.
... Accumulated literature has identified noneconomic factors that are associated with SWB. Health is one such factor that has been consistently found to have a strong association with SWB (Hansen & Slagsvold, 2012;Rojas, 2008;Yang, 2018). Although SWB influences health, the size of health effects on SWB is substantially larger (Dolan et al., 2008), therefore, existing studies commonly include health as an explanatory variable. ...
... We use life satisfaction as an indicator of SWB which is used as a robust indicator of SWB in the literature (Chindarkar et al., 2019;Rojas, 2008;Yang, 2018). Respondents were asked to rate the frequency on a scale of five (1: never, 2: rarely, 3: sometimes, 4: often, 5: always) by responding to the question: "Generally, how often did you feel that you are satisfied with your life?" ...
The rapid aging of Malaysia's population is a critical social phenomenon that warrants an in-depth investigation. Understanding the subjective well-being (SWB) of older persons is crucial for sound policymaking in aging societies. The existing literature emphasizes the importance of including noneconomic factors to understand one’s well-being holistically. The current study uses data from the Malaysia Ageing and Retirement Survey (MARS) to investigate the satisfaction with their lives using arrays of variables, including demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, living arrangements, social engagement, and health. The analysis revealed that the SWB increases with age after the age of 40 until approximately 77.5 years old. The results showed that some factors influence SWB of older persons differently by living arrangements and gender. A negative association was found between being employed and SWB of older male persons living alone and between participating in family activities and SWB of older female persons living alone, as those activities could increase distress in their lives. Social activities such as social outing were found to enhance SWB of older persons. For those living with a spouse only, having difficulties with ADL negatively affects the SWB. The findings of this study underscore the importance of catering to older persons with different living arrangements and genders to ensure the most effective and efficient support for older persons in Malaysia.
... The incorporation of subjective wellbeing questions into national-level surveys, as well as the development of specific subjective wellbeing surveys by National Statistical Offices -like the BIARE survey in Mexico -fostered happiness research in the region during the first decades of the twentyfirst century. At present, happiness research in the region deals with many issues; some of them have a particular Latin American flavor, like poverty (Palomar Lever et al., 2005;Rojas, 2008Rojas, , 2011Ramírez, 2021Ramírez, , 2023, income inequality (Graham and Felton, 2006), insecurity (Wills- Herrera et al., 2011;Graham and Chaparro, 2011); and labor informality (Rojas, 2013;Temkin, 2016;Temkin and Cruz Ibarra, 2018) High and sustainable happiness in Latin America At present, it is possible to count on many waves of global surveys that provide subjective wellbeing information; they allow for regional comparisons. A finding that systematically appears in cross-regional comparisons is that Latin Americans report high levels of life satisfaction. ...
... They show that the satisfaction of the need for love and belonging is crucial for people's happiness; the satisfaction of this key need depends on the quality of interpersonal relationships, and it is completely uncorrelated with household income. This explains why Latin Americans can enjoy high happiness levels even when their income is low; it also explains why income poverty is not a good indicator of wellbeing deprivation (Rojas 2008(Rojas , 2015b. ...
... CWB can also be construed in terms of adequacy of domains, approaching well-being as a multidimensional evaluation of an individual's life (Eid and Diener 2004). Domain adequacy gauges satisfaction with various aspects of consumption and significantly contributes to CWB (Rojas 2008). It also serves as a measure of the ability of economically disadvantaged consumers to access essential goods and services (Martin and Paul Hill 2012), with a lack of such adequacy indicating poverty (Hamilton et al. 2014). ...
... The literature has also delved into domain-based well-being, examining adequacy of specific consumption domains as a factor influencing overall well-being (Rojas 2008). Financial well-being of BoP consumers was found to be more affected by financial behaviour than financial skills or knowledge (Xiao and Porto 2022). ...
A disparate collection of knowledge on the well‐being of low‐income consumers presents difficulties for both academics and practitioners. This review article addresses the critical need for a comprehensive synthesis of existing knowledge on well‐being of low‐income consumers. Focusing on Base of the Pyramid and Subsistence Marketplaces literature, we employed the SPAR‐4‐SLR protocol to structure our methodology and applied ADO–TCM framework for literature analysis. Our review uncovers conflicting evidence regarding the impact of conspicuous consumption, meeting basic needs and relative well‐being on consumer well‐being. Additionally, we highlight the diversity in conceptualisations of consumer well‐being, leading to inconsistent findings. We advocate qualitative methods, longitudinal studies and triangulation as potential research avenues. Our analysis underscores research gaps regarding the influence of culture, Western subsistence markets, alternative theoretical frameworks and under‐explored facets of consumer well‐being. We propose a set of research questions and objectives to guide scholars in this field.
... The second is the subjective dimension. Residents compare their economic situation or living conditions with those of others to obtain their poverty status; that is, individuals' poverty is derived from their frame of reference (Rojas, 2008). Some scholars have pointed out that financial inclusion (Sarma & Pais, 2011), infrastructure improvements, and government cash transfers (Varshney et al., 2021) are important means of alleviating relative poverty. ...
... The measurement of subjective relative poverty should be based on two aspects: first, from a "subjective" perspective, it is the self-perception of the person concerned, and it is self-assessment of individual life surroundings as opposed to others' determination (Guo et al., 2016); second, from a "relative" perspective, it is necessary to compare the person's living conditions with a certain frame of reference. When comparing a person's life situation to a specified reference point, the degree of social equality is significant (Rojas, 2008;Tian et al., 2019;Zhou & Shao, 2020;Zhou & Shao, 2020). The CFPS Income Status Questionnaire was used for this study. ...
In the era of networking and information technology, ongoing advancement of the new business pattern "Internet+ " has enabled the Internet to permeate all facets of rural residents' production and life, with profound effects on their daily choices. Can the Internet continue to help people get out of poverty by making rural households less poor? To test the consequences of the Internet usage on farming people’s relative poverty as well as its internal mechanisms of action, we use data from the China Family Panel Studies in 2016 and 2018, employing the model of probit as well as the mediation impact theories. The results are as follows: (1) In terms of comparison to farmers who refrain from using the Internet, farmers who do use the Internet have lower levels of objective and subjective relative poverty. Regarding the marginal effects, each extra Internet use metric, a farmer’s likelihood of falling into objective and subjective relative poverty is reduced by 3.84% and 2.67%, respectively. (2) Farmers' use of the Internet concerning their business activities has the most prominent effect on their relative poverty alleviation. (3) The poverty alleviation effect of the Internet varies by region, gender, and age. (4) Human capital, social capital, and non-agricultural employment help alleviate the relative poverty of farm households using the Internet. According to these results, the Communist Party of China may be able to minimize relative rural poverty by strongly investing in information infrastructure, offering online training for residents, and stimulating rural human capital. Those findings convey indispensable theoretical suggestions and pragmatic support for generating an everlasting mechanism to lessen relative poverty and accomplish the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
... The few studies that do exist on these matters have found decreased life satisfaction and increased stress levels under pandemic conditions in Ethiopia (Abate et al., 2020) and Uganda (Mahmud & Riley, 2021), respectively. Deterioration in subjective well-being can be long-lasting (Alem et al., 2014;Rojas, 2008) and negatively impact both the economic situation and the decision-making of those affected (Lund et al., 2013). ...
... In addition to their adverse material impacts, COVID-19 containment measures are also likely to negatively impact life satisfaction. This may persist regarding subjective well-being even after the material damage has been repaired, as examples from Ethiopia (Alem et al., 2014) and Mexico (Rojas, 2008) show. Further, the economic situation and decisionmaking of those affected may suffer too (Lund et al., 2013). ...
How have COVID‐19‐related restrictions affected consumption levels and life satisfaction in low‐income countries? We conducted phone surveys with 577 households in Liberia to compare consumption patterns across three points in time: November 2019 (pre‐COVID‐19), May 2020 (short term), and September 2020 (medium term). This article analyzes the impacts of the Covid‐19 pandemic and the related restrictions on food and nonfood consumption, which we categorize as “material” welfare and life satisfaction, which we categorize as “nonmaterial” welfare. We find differences between food and nonfood consumption patterns under pandemic conditions. In particular, consumption by households dependent on food and labor markets was negatively affected by the pandemic. In terms of life satisfaction, we find that most respondents perceived their lives to have worsened due to the pandemic.
... Moreover, the understanding of happiness can vary across different cultures and encompass various dimensions of life (Delle Fave et al., 2016). Therefore, happiness is a multifaceted concept that is experienced uniquely by every individual, and each individual has the capacity to report on their own happiness (Rojas, 2008). ...
The literature on the relationship between happiness and prosocial behavior has traditionally focused on assessments of happiness without delving into people’s perceptions of what constitutes a happy life. Conceptual Referent Theory (CRT) draws on philosophical frameworks to propose eight distinct happiness constructs. In this study, we investigate the correlation between these happiness constructs and the results derived from a dictator game on prosocial behavior. We also explore potential group biases by analyzing the participants’ interactions with individuals from different ethnicities. Our findings suggest that prosocial behavior is influenced by specific styles of happiness, which indicates that focusing policies on certain happiness constructs may promote prosocial values. However, this relationship varies across populations. Specifically, the happiness constructs virtue and tranquility positively impact the likelihood of Spanish participants engaging in prosocial behavior when interacting with recipients from Spanish, Moroccan, and Chinese backgrounds, but not with those from a Senegalese background. Intessrestingly, no happiness constructs were found to be negatively correlated with prosocial behavior. The evidence presented highlights the importance of implementing actions and policies aimed at cultivating healthier and more prosocial societies.
... A search of the Web of Science yielded 388 studies on SWB and tourism, but only 13 focused on respondents from low-income backgrounds, and only nine were directly related to tourism, highlighting the limited attention given to this demographic. Interestingly, some studies suggest that poor living conditions do not necessarily correlate with lower SWB (Rojas, 2008Croes & Rivera, 2016). ...
This study examines the effects of tourism development on the well-being of impoverished residents in both urban (La Candelaria, Bogotá) and rural (La Macarena, Meta) regions of Colombia. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the findings reveal that personal economic benefits from tourism are the most vital factor in enhancing residents' happiness and life satisfaction. The analysis outlines a pathway from economic gain to happiness, improving life satisfaction. Additionally, the study highlights tourism's role in exacerbating the urban-rural divide, offering insights into migration trends and regional inequality. Practical recommendations are provided for policymakers to ensure balanced tourism development across regions.
... A search of the Web of Science yielded 388 studies on SWB and tourism, but only 13 focused on respondents from low-income backgrounds, and only 9 were directly related to tourism, highlighting the limited attention given to this demographic. Interestingly, some studies suggest that poor living conditions do not necessarily correlate with lower SWB [7,8,13]. ...
This study investigates the impact of tourism development on the well-being of impoverished residents in the urban area of La Candelaria, Bogotá, and the rural area of La Macarena, Meta. The participants were recruited using Colombia’s SISBÉN classification system by approaching individuals in public spaces such as bakeries, markets, and restaurants. After confirming their residency, only those classified in categories A (extreme poverty), B (moderate poverty), or C (vulnerable population) were included in the study. Data collection took place in May 2017, resulting in 307 surveys from the participants across both locations. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the findings reveal that economic benefits are the most influential factor, significantly enhancing happiness and life satisfaction. While cultural and environmental benefits are acknowledged, they are less directly linked to personal well-being. The study highlights tourism’s complex role in promoting economic growth and shaping the social, cultural, and environmental aspects of community life. However, it also identifies potential risks, such as environmental degradation and social disruption, particularly in different spatial contexts. The research underscores the need for tourism development to provide tangible, personal benefits that align with residents’ economic and emotional priorities, ensuring sustainable and equitable outcomes, especially considering the spatial disparities between urban and rural areas that influence tourism’s effectiveness in improving well-being and alleviating poverty.
... It also includes "psychology" and "social capital," indicating a strong link between economic variables and psychological well-being (Labroo and Patrick 2009;Easterlin 2006;Kofi Charles 2004;Clark et al. 2001;Bjørnskov 2006). 2. Cluster 2 (green)-Regional Economic Studies: Focused on geographic areas such as "Central Europe," "Eurasia," and "Western Europe," this cluster explores the regional differences and peculiarities in happiness studies, suggesting localized or culturally specific research agendas (Engelbrecht 2009;Chang 2009;Ng 1978Ng , 2008Rojas 2008;Frijters et al. 2004). 3. Cluster 3 (dark blue)-Standards of Living: This cluster includes "living standard," "poverty," "socioeconomic indicators," and "socioeconomic status," highlighting studies that assess the impact of living conditions on happiness, and suggests a quantitative approach to measuring these impacts (Saunders and Naidoo 2009;Gerdtham and Johannesson 2001;Steckel 2008). ...
... Poverty has many different meanings for different individuals or different societal groups. The selection of various poverty definitions and methods to assess poverty determinations are considered as the poor and development programs of poverty alleviation (Caizhen, 2010;Havenman & Wolff, 2005;Laderchi et al., 2003;Rojas 2008) Poverty is a complicated phenomenon which is involved with a lot of deprivations. Based on economic states an individual is a poor when he/she unable to live their live without minimal standard of living (Elisabete & Teresa 2019). ...
Abstract
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the most discussed matter in the developing countries due to their vast involvement in socio-economic development and poverty reduction programs, and Bangladesh has no exception. The purpose of this study is to identify how are NGOs playing a vital role in eradicating rural and overall poverty from Bangladesh. After the independence of Bangladesh, the numbers of NGOs and its socio-economic development as well as poverty reduction programs have been increasing gradually. The NGOs have come like a savior for innumerable people specially who were living their life without food, cloth, health, education, and other basic facilities. In the beginning stages NGOs were more active in assisting basic needed support, relief, rehabilitation, and other related activities. Gradually NGOs have been engaging in economical and social development activities. For social development they have been conducting two main important programs as SDP and TP, during 2016-17 around 55.31 million people received social service (including members) and about 1.89 million people were engaged in training programs by CDF’s reported NGO-MFIs. NGOs have been engaging with so many different activities for socio-economic development and poverty reduction or eradication programs such as microcredit policies, micro-insurance, sector-wise microcredit plans, foreign remittance, work automations, employment, microfinance in rural & remote area, savings, and other economical programs. During 2016-17, MGO-MFIs distributed loan around Tk. 1,207.538 billion or $4.081 billion, while they issued loan Tk. 1031.39 billion in rural areas which represented about 85.4% of total distributed loan amount. NGO-MFI’s total money circulation amount of 2016-17, is equivalent to about 11.85% of Bangladesh’s current GDP value.
Keywords: Bangladesh, NGOs, Poverty reduction, Rural areas, Socio-economic development.
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Codes: L31, O18, & P36.
... As Sen (2008) pointed out, our feelings of contentment or dissatisfaction are contingent upon attaining our objectives. In Mexico, Rojas (2008) discovered that despite harsh living conditions, the impoverished expressed happiness, whereas Croes and Rivera (2016) found instances in Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador where the poor exhibited satisfaction with life but were not happy. This phenomenon was ascribed to aspirations and adaptations, channels shaping the link between tourism development and happiness. ...
Purpose
The study aims to delve into the influence of tourism on the happiness of city residents, grounded in the overarching concept of livability. It posits that prioritizing residents’ happiness is crucial for effectively addressing cities’ challenges in balancing development and distinctiveness. The study pursues three primary objectives: first, establishing a potential correlation between city tourism and residents’ happiness; second, examining the contributing factors to this correlation and third, identifying potential mediators that influence the connection between tourism development and residents’ happiness.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a quantitative single-case design and partial least square analysis, the study underscores the intricate nature of various tourism development components. It specifically explores the roles of cognitive flexibility and social comparison in shaping the relationship between city tourism and happiness.
Findings
The findings make a distinctive contribution by revealing that not all tourism domains contribute positively to happiness. Furthermore, it sheds light on how tourism development impacts the emotional and cognitive dimensions of happiness, emphasizing the adverse effects of inequality and feelings of insecurity.
Research limitations/implications
The study acknowledges certain constraints, including its employment of a cross-sectional design, the issue of generalizability, potential sampling bias and the reliance on subjective measurements when evaluating constructs like happiness and satisfaction with life. Using self-reported data introduces susceptibility to social desirability bias and individual perceptual differences, potentially resulting in measurement inaccuracies. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the study’s findings offer valuable insights that contribute to both theoretical advancement and the realm of urban management.
Practical implications
The findings elucidated through the mediation analyses conducted for hypotheses three to seven shed light on the significant roles played by mental adaptation and social comparison mechanisms in shaping individuals’ happiness. These insights substantially enhance our understanding of this field. Particularly, the dimensions of social and environmental impact within tourism appear to counterbalance the positive effects stemming from the economic and cultural aspects. This suggests a scenario where an excessive focus on tourism development could potentially undermine the overall livability of the city. These outcomes further indicate the necessity for proactive interventions by destination managers. Their efforts should be directed toward enhancing the environmental and social domains, aiming to reinvigorate the sense of community among residents, which appears to be gradually waning.
Social implications
The outcomes of this study emphasize the utmost significance of prioritizing residents’ happiness above mere considerations of economic growth when formulating efficacious strategies for tourism. By concentrating on the happiness of the local population, a harmonious resonance is established with Sustainable Development Goal 11, which advocates for the creation of habitable cities founded upon the principle that “a city that is not good for its citizens is not good for tourists.” This alignment underscores the interconnected nature of residents’ happiness and the sustainable development of tourism. Moreover, residents’ happiness plays a pivotal role in addressing the challenge that cities face in harmonizing growth and their uniqueness, ensuring competitiveness and sustainability.
Originality/value
The research underscores the need for a people-oriented perspective in urban planning and tourism development initiatives. The study identifies diverse factors impacting residents’ happiness in city tourism, highlighting the complex interplay of environmental, cultural and socioeconomic elements. It emphasizes income’s role but underscores nonmaterial factors and individual preferences. Overall, the study offers timely and valuable insights into the intricate connection between tourism development, residents’ happiness, living conditions and human perception, guiding urban planners and stakeholders.
... The selection of domains depends on the objective of the investigation and the availability of data, considering that these domains refer to how people conceive their life [71]. To explain quality of life through the lens of satisfaction with life, the present research considers the domains of education [19,74], household context [4,8], environment [77,91], health [60,92], economy [70,71], work [6, 83] and social relations with neighbors [38,52]. ...
This paper evaluates subjective quality of life using various Machine Learning (ML) techniques. Utilizing a survey conducted in Quito’s historical downtown and adopting subjective quality of life as a theoretical framework, we applied ML regression techniques (ordinal logistic regression, random forests and support vector machines) to identify satisfactions with different domains of life influencing overall satisfaction with life. Our findings indicate that satisfaction with work, satisfaction with household conditions and satisfaction with health explain overall life satisfaction. Additionally, it was observed that high values of these satisfactions are evenly distributed across space. The applied techniques can be easily replicated for diverse urban contexts, expanding the use of ML methods within the Social Sciences. Assessing satisfaction with life of urban residents is critical to support better urban planning. Policy-making should promote satisfaction of different domains of life by recognizing the complexity and multidimensionality of the factors that influence the quality of life of human beings.
... Quality of life can be considered as an aggregate construct of various specific spheres of life. Satisfaction in life is achieved as a result of fulfilment in attributes of the respective domains of life (Lee 2008;Rojas 2008). Road network connectivity plays a key role in promoting quality of life (Parida, 2014). ...
The underlying influence of road transport system on societal well-being is not yet well foretold. Such predicament is prompted by limited capture of quality of life features in analysis and also due to undefined analytical model. This research introduces a novel model with multidimensional predictive approach for empirical exploration of road connectivity influence on quality of life (QOL) in Abuja City, Nigeria. Suitable road connectivity components and quality of life indicators were identified through literature review. Data were generated on the identified road connectivity social components and transport related quality of life indicators from 367 respondents in the 15 (37.5%) sampled districts. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed using SPSS 15.0 software to ascertain the components of road connectivity and quality of life indicators for model development. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine the model fitness between the components of road connectivity and the latent indicators of transport related quality of life. Factor analysis affirmed that four connectivity components, six latent factors and 26 observable factors were fit for model development. The structural equation modelling showed high factor loading (R2 = 0.66), implying that road connectivity components explained 66% of QOL. Path coefficient was 0.81, indicating that every one unit increase in road connectivity contributes 0.81 unit increase in QOL. Hence, the study suggests a multidimensional model that can be employed for analysing transport performance. The model would be useful to researchers, planners and engineers for examining the influence of transportation network on societal quality of life.
... Rojas (2008b) propone para México una medición de la calidad de vida como proxi del bienestar subjetivo y usa como marco de referencia la propuesta de Veenhoven. Mariano Rojas incluye varios dominios de la felicidad, pero argumenta que el número de dominios debe ser parsimonioso para que pueda aportar información útil (Rojas, 2008a(Rojas, , pág. 1081. ...
Esta nueva entrega de la colección “Informe del Desarrollo en México” del Programa Universitario de Estudios del Desarrollo (PUED) de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) busca recuperar y poner en el centro de la discusión el concepto «Desarrollo» en tanto proyecto e idea fuerza que ayude a reconocer y transformar la realidad de nuestro país en pleno siglo XXI. Ubicar este concepto como la categoría analítica central implica repensar su significado y potencial para procurar el bienestar y la garantía de los derechos humanos, y valorar su capacidad ordenadora para construir teorías y métodos de análisis que ayuden a entender las relaciones existentes entre el ámbito social, económico, ambiental, cultural y político, y su manifestación en fenómenos de pobreza, desigualdad, equidad, sustentabilidad y democracia.
... Rojas (2008b) propone para México una medición de la calidad de vida como proxi del bienestar subjetivo y usa como marco de referencia la propuesta de Veenhoven. Mariano Rojas incluye varios dominios de la felicidad, pero argumenta que el número de dominios debe ser parsimonioso para que pueda aportar información útil (Rojas, 2008a(Rojas, , pág. 1081. ...
Esta nueva entrega de la colección “Informe del Desarrollo en México” del Programa Universitario de Estudios del Desarrollo (PUED) de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) busca recuperar y poner en el centro de la discusión el concepto «Desarrollo» en tanto proyecto e idea fuerza que ayude a reconocer y transformar la realidad de nuestro país en pleno siglo XXI. Ubicar este concepto como la categoría analítica central implica repensar su significado y potencial para procurar el bienestar y la garantía de los derechos humanos, y valorar su capacidad ordenadora para construir teorías y métodos de análisis que ayuden a entender las relaciones existentes entre el ámbito social, económico, ambiental, cultural y político, y su manifestación en fenómenos de pobreza, desigualdad, equidad, sustentabilidad y democracia.
... In contrast, those who are unemployed report lower SWB compared to their counterparts. Our results corroborate those of Sen [27]; Guardiola and Garcia-Munoz [28]; Kingdon and Knight [29]; Knight, Song and Gunatilaka [30]; Rojas [31,32] and Pradhan and Ravallion [33], who suggest that health, enlightenment through education and certain livelihood parameters (e.g., living standard and size of land holdings, etc.) improve one's capabilities to access public services, which in turn have a positive influence on self-reported life satisfaction or SWB. Note. ...
Background:
Containing the spread of the COVID-19 rests on many people willing to get vaccinated. At the same time, it is important to recognize the various socio-demographic factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination. This paper aims to identify socio-demographic and health factors related to the COVID-19 vaccine and its impact on subjective well-being in urban Pakistan.
Methods:
Pooled cross-sectional sample surveys collected in 2021 and 2022 (n = 4500 households) via a questionnaire provided to household's heads. In each wave, data were collected using the same methodology, sample size and sampling techniques (proportional stratified random sampling). An ordered probit regression model was used to identify the various socio-demographic and health factors related to the COVID-19 vaccine and its impact on subjective well-being. Sample weights were applied to all the regression analyses to improve population generalizability.
Results and conclusion:
Besides socio-demographic factors such as being healthy, educated and richer, coronavirus vaccination plays a positive and significant role in overall subjective well-being. However, vaccination has a smaller effect on men or older populations compared to women or younger populations in terms of their subjective well-being. Moreover, as expected, the vaccination has the strongest positive effect on the healthy population and its subjective well-being.
... The interviews were part of the expert review as the issues are extremely difficult to be investigated by questionnaire alone (Rojas, 2007). The interviews gave the researcher the opportunity to get to know participants, to really grasp how they experienced, and thought of wellbeing from an Islamic perspective (Rojas, 2008). In the context of this study, the researcher conducted faceto-face interviews to validate the five dimensions of poverty from the Islamic perspective and to identify variables pertaining to each of the dimensions. ...
Wellbeing is defined as a situation of positive feeling (happiness and satisfaction) and positive functioning elements (engagement and self-acceptance). Recent studies have shown wellbeing is conceptualized in a multidimensional form, explained in both objective and subjective perspective. From an Islamic perspective, wellbeing is explained through inside and outer fulfillment, driving towards a peaceful life, named as Hayat-e-Tayyaba. The objective of the vision of wellbeing is to satisfy the material and non-material needs. The maqasid al shariah principles are normally used by scholars to explain wellbeing in the Islamic perspective. The objective of this empirical paper is to present Islamic Household wellbeing Index (IHWI) using the five dimensions of maqasid al shariah. The present study employs 35 experts in identifying the five dimensions and the variables of the IHWI. The formulation of the IHWI is deliberated and its interpretation is highlighted. Keywords: Wellbeing, Maqasid al-shariah, micro
... It should be noted that we utilized the respondents' subjective feelings on household economic status as the measurement of the family income variable based on the principle of utility economics [21]. This subjective feeling is an individual's evaluation of whether he or she is poor or rich, and this self-evaluation standard is typically associated with the reference group set by the individual himself or herself that avoids the drawback of using a certain percentage of the median household income as the threshold standard to distinguish the family income level [22]. Table 1 presents a descriptive statistical analysis of all of the variables. ...
China is committed to using digital technology to drive urban–rural integration in health care. This study aims to explore the effect of digital inclusion on health status with the mediating role of cultural capital and the digital health disparities between urban and rural residents in China. Using data from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), the present study adopted an ordinary least squares (OLS) robust standard error regression model to investigate the impact of digital inclusion on health status. In addition, causal step regression (CSR) and bootstrapping methods were combined to test the mediating effect of cultural capital. The results showed that, first, digital inclusion was related to positive and significant effects on resident health status. Second, cultural capital played a mediating role in the relationship between digital inclusion and health status. Third, urban residents gained more health benefits from digital inclusion than rural residents. Additionally, common method variance (CMV) tests, endogenous tests, and a propensity score matching (PSM) analysis showed that the above conclusions remained robust. The government should therefore focus not only on promoting the population’s health by utilizing digital inclusion but also on accelerating digital health equity between urban and rural areas by developing such strategies as a digital infrastructure expansion schedule and digital literacy education and training programs.
... In addition, a raising number of papers do rely on the subjective well-being approach to address many development issues, such as: Poverty (Ravallion, 2012;Rojas, 2008), migration (Knight and Gunatilaka, 2010), hunger (Rojas and Guardiola (2017), forced migration and displacement (Wang and Zhou, 2017;Randell, 2016), and empowerment (Hossain et al., 2019). ...
Maslow’s needs theory proposes a hierarchy of needs and argues for their sequential satisfaction. The theory has been very influential in development studies, in the establishment of development priorities, in the design of policies and social programs, and in the role economic growth plays as central development
instrument. This paper relies on a large and representative database from Mexico to empirically test four assumptions which are commonly associated to Maslow’s theory: that needs are satisfied sequentially, that income is a relevant resource in the satisfaction of relevant needs, that the hierarchy of needs is associated to their well-being contribution, and that Maslow’s proposed sequential path in the satisfaction of needs -beginning with the satisfaction of physiological ones and ending with the satisfaction of selfactualization ones- is the best possible one. Data on satisfaction of needs is used to address the first two assumptions, while a subjective well-being approach is used to deal with the last two assumptions.
The four assumptions are rejected. In consequence, it is possible to think about strategies in the satisfaction of needs that do not follow the sequential satisfaction proposed by Maslow and which question the hierarchical order he proposed. The paper highlights the relevance of the needs of love and belonging and of esteem, and it argues for an integrated view of human beings and of their needs, as well as for following a balanced strategy in their satisfaction. Implications for development studies and for the design of sustainable development strategies and social programs are discussed.
... No obstante, también se ha mostrado que, si bien la satisfacción económica contribuye a la satisfacción con la vida, no la determina (Rojas, 2006;Rojas, 2007;van Praag, 2003). En ese sentido, por ejemplo, pueden existir disonancias entre el bienestar subjetivo y la pobreza por ingresos (Rojas, 2008). Es importante considerar que hay diversas concepciones de lo que es la felicidad, informadas por factores culturales y sociales, por lo cual los factores explicativos pueden variar entre individuos y sociedades. ...
En este trabajo analizaremos la evolución del bienestar subjetivo de los mexicanos entre 2013 y 2018. Particularmente, nos interesa comparar cómo se ha comportado este indicador a lo largo del periodo de referencia en distintas regiones del país. Nos basaremos en la regionalización propuesta por Bassols, (2002), la cual divide al
país en nueve regiones socioeconómicas, cada una de las cuales agrupa distintas entidades federativas. Las regiones son: Noroeste, Norte, Noreste, Centro-Norte, Centro-Occidente, Centro, Este, Península de Yucatán y Sur.
... Guardiola and Garcia-Munoz (2011) found in a similar vein for rural Guatemala that education, access to public services and various livelihood parameters such as the quality of housing and the size of land holdings have a positive influence on self-reported basic needs satisfaction. Other studies support these findings for different countries in the developing world: Kingdon and Knight (2006) for South Africa; Knight et al. (2009) for rural China; Rojas (2004Rojas ( , 2008 for Mexico; Pradhan and Ravallion (2000) for Jamaica and Nepal. Most of the literature tends to find that married couples are happier than those who are living on their own (Easterlin, 2006;Knight et al., 2009). ...
This study contributes to the existing literature on happiness studies by analyzing the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on subjective well-being (SWB) in a developing country, focusing specifically on satisfaction with socio-economic status. Drawing on survey data for urban Pakistan from before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, we find that during the early days of the pandemic and the related social distancing and potential lockdowns, SWB declined, particularly among unemployed, married couples, males and older people. Unexpectedly, we also observed that households having a higher income suffered more from the pandemic in terms of satisfaction with their socio-economic status compared to their poorer counterparts. We explain this finding by increased fear for falling into poverty due to lockdowns and inflation.
... The definition of poverty is not static. In the beginning, scholars only defined poverty in terms of income (Kingdon and Knight 2006;Rojas 2008). At the beginning of the 20 th century, S. Rowntree proposed the concept of absolute poverty for the first time in his book "Poverty: A Study of Town Life". ...
Poverty has always been a global concern that has restricted human development. The first goal (SDG 1) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to eliminate all forms of poverty all over the world. The establishment of a scientific and effective localized SDG 1 evaluation and monitoring method is the key to achieving SDG 1. This paper proposes SDG 1 China district and county-level localization evaluation method based on multi-source remote sensing data for the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework. The temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of China’s poverty areas and their SDG 1 evaluation values in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 have been analyzed. Based on the SDGs global indicator framework, this paper first constructed SDG 1 China’s district and county localization indicator system and then extracted multidimensional feature factors from nighttime light images, land cover data, and digital elevation model data. Secondly, we establish SDG 1 China’s localized partial least squares estimation model and SDG 1 China’s localized machine learning estimation model. Finally, we analyze and verify the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of China’s poverty areas and counties and their SDG 1 evaluation values. The results show that SDG 1 China’s district and county localization indicator system proposed in this study and SDG 1 China’s localized partial least squares estimation model can better reflect the poverty level of China’s districts and counties. The estimated model R2 is 0.65, which can identify 72.77% of China’s national poverty counties. From 2012 to 2018, the spatial distribution pattern of SDG evaluation values in China’s districts and counties is that the SDG evaluation values gradually increase from western China to eastern China. In addition, the average SDG 1 evaluation value of China’s districts and counties increased by 23% from 2012 to 2018. This paper is oriented to the United Nations SDGs framework, explores the SDG 1 localized evaluation method of China’s districts and counties based on multisource remote sensing data, and provides a scientific and rapid regional poverty monitoring and evaluation program for the implementation of the 2030 agenda poverty alleviation goals.
... Phone ownership as a valid instrument is supported by Sakyi-Nyarko et al. (2021) and Kikulwe et al. (2014). We also argue that being in public sector employment is highly correlated with the measures of financial inclusion because as part of Ghana's Digital Financial Services Policy, all public sector workers are required to have a formal account or mobile money wallet into which their wages and salaries are paid into. 3 However, public sector employment does not necessarily translate into greater well-being (Rojas, 2008), especially as well-being goes beyond cash earnings from public sector employment. 4 ...
Using a nationally representative household survey data collected from Ghana, this paper investigates the relationship between financial inclusion and household well‐being. The paper computes a comprehensive index for financial inclusion incorporating all its dimensions: availability, accessibility, usage and quality. Our econometric analyses employ both discrete and continuous models to produce robust results. The main result indicates that there are significant welfare gains from increased financial inclusion irrespective of its measure and control for endogeneity. The results also suggest that enhanced financial inclusion increases the likelihood of improving food consumption, medical treatment, cash income and school attendance outcomes. Thus, there is a clear policy implication: increasing financial inclusion will significantly contribute to the attainment of some key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
... Therefore, as Table 1 shows, comparing the theories of SWB (Veenhoven 1991(Veenhoven , 1996Rojas 2008Rojas , 2013Rojas and Veenhoven 2013) and CA 1 , Sen (1980Sen ( , 1985aSen ( , 1985bNussbaum (2000Nussbaum ( , 2003Nussbaum ( , 2009) put forward different sets of indicators for evaluating the countries' development. ...
Mainstreaming gender analysis into all aspects of policy making, including infrastructure and economic policy, is a key aspect to achieving gender equality. The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of several public infrastructures on well-being by gender, applying the Capability and Subjective Well-being approaches. An index of access to infrastructure is constructed and its effect on well-being is estimated using a new survey dataset from Spain. The results from the logistic regression model show that access to infrastructure positively affects subjective well-being, particularly of female respondents. All dimensions of infrastructure matter more for women’s well-being than men’s. Important differences in the impact on well-being by the types of infrastructures analyzed and the impact differs significantly by age are obtained. The findings suggest that designing public infrastructure policies can contribute to reducing gender well-being gap.
... The government's poverty alleviation department will formulate assistance measures to help these families and focus its efforts on supporting them. This institution has been shown to significantly increase happiness and life satisfaction while reducing the perceived hardship of the poor (Rojas, 2008). Compared with unregistered poverty-stricken households, those who registered are more satisfied with targeted poverty alleviation (Cao et al., 2017). ...
As a substantial energy policy for poverty alleviation in China, photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects (PPAPs) have achieved a combination of poverty alleviation development, energy conservation and pollution emissions reduction. It is essential to explore how to improve the beneficiaries' satisfaction of the PPAPs, and thus to play a sustainable role in poverty alleviation. Based on the 1000 households' survey data collected in 41 poor villages in rural China. This paper explores the factors influencing beneficiaries' satisfaction using the entropy weight method (EWM), factor analysis, and ordinal regression model. The results indicate that:(1) there are some geographical differences in beneficiaries' satisfaction with PPAPs, and they are positively associated with the economic development performance of the poor areas; (2) beneficiaries' cognitive factors and environmental factors have disproportionate effects on the satisfaction, while the socio-demographic characteristics of beneficiaries have no significant influence on the comprehensive satisfaction.
... RESEARCH ARTICLE DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/tare.v24i4.5522 Furthermore, subjective well-being approaches have been used to measure the perceived poverty line, thus complementing or replacing income-based approaches (Kingdon and Knight 2006;Pradhan and Ravallion 2000;Rojas 2008;Guardiola and Garcia-Munoz 2012). ...
... The primary issue in poverty monitoring is defining poverty, and the concept of poverty is not static. Most beginners consider poverty from only the perspective of income, which is referred to as absolute poverty [65][66][67]. Amartya Sen subsequently proposed the concept of ability poverty, which he explained as follows: "A person can make different combinations of choices related to various functional activities. Therefore, ability is a kind of freedom to make a combination of choices related to various functional activities". ...
Eliminating all forms of poverty in the world is the first United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Developing a scientific and feasible method for monitoring and evaluating local poverty is important for the implementation of the SDG agenda. Based on the 2030 United Nations SDGs, in this paper, a quantitative evaluation model is built and applied to all poverty-stricken counties in Hunan Province. First, based on the SDG global index framework and local index system of China, a local SDG index system for poverty-related goals is designed, and the weights of the indexes are derived using an entropy method. The scores obtained for counties and districts with data available are then taken as the true value for the poverty assessment. Second, using National Polar-orbiting Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) nighttime light images and land use and digital elevation model data, six factors, including socioeconomic, land cover, terrain and traffic factors, are extracted. Third, we then construct multiple linear evaluation models of poverty targets defined by the SDGs and machine learning evaluation models, including regression trees, support vector machines, Gaussian process regressions and ensemble trees. Last, combined with statistical data of poverty-stricken counties in Hunan Province, model validation and accuracy evaluation are carried out. The results show that the R2 and relative error of the localized, multiple linear evaluation model, including all six factors, are 0.76 and 19.12%, respectively. The poverty-stricken counties in Hunan Province were spatially aggregated and distributed mainly in the southeastern and northwestern regions. The proposed method for regional poverty assessment based on multisource geographic data provides an effective poverty monitoring reference scheme for the implementation of the poverty eradication goals in the 2030 agenda.
... The inclusion of aspects such as public insecurity in the measurement of poverty is necessary because the generalized perception of insecurity and crime victimization damages the public image of the community, which generates economic losses (Oc and Tiesdell, 1997). Similarly, it is needed because life satisfaction is a type of poverty experienced which measures domains of life that are very different from that which measures income (Rojas, 2008). Thus, this situation reveals the importance of incorporating variables of this nature as one of the main institutional and governance challenges for the implementation and expansion of social welfare programs in the Mexican case, as well as in different Latin American countries. ...
Purpose
Comprehensive poverty measures are increasingly gaining importance since people's deprivations and needs cover aspects beyond income. For this reason, the goal of this article is to propose a methodology to measure poverty that includes objective social deprivation, income deprivation and subjective social deprivation, using Mexico City and its municipalities as the study context. In order to show areas of intervention of public policies, the authors discuss the dimensions and indicators used in the multidimensional measurement.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Social Welfare Survey ( N = 2,871), the authors measure poverty with the Alkire-Foster methodology. The applied concept of poverty includes objective and subjective deprivations, and income.
Findings
The interaction between objective and subjective deprivations shows that income, social cohesion, built environment and public insecurity are important areas for the redesigning of public policies.
Originality/value
The employed method to measure poverty emphasizes the relevance of including subjective deprivations in interaction with objective deprivations and income. It evidences the need for the implementation or strengthening of public policies.
To promote global sustainable development, this paper focuses on the identification of relative poverty. On the one hand, based on the sustainable livelihoods framework, a multi-dimensional relative poverty identification index system is constructed, covering six dimensions—human capital, financial capital, natural capital, physical capital, social capital, and livelihood environment—with a total of 18 indexes. On the other hand, addressing the limitations of traditional relative poverty identification methods in handling dynamic three-dimensional data, the multiway Mahalanobis–Taguchi system (MMTS) is proposed to identify dynamic relative poverty. This method first unfolds dynamic three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data along the sample direction through multiway statistical analysis techniques, then constructs multiway Mahalanobis distances to measure sample differences, and finally uses a Taguchi orthogonal experimental design for dimensionality reduction and noise reduction to optimize the model. Experiments using tracking survey data from 2020 to 2024 in three poverty-stricken counties in China’s Dabie Mountain area show that MMTS performs better than the Two-Way Fixed Effects (Two-way FE) model and Dynamic LSTM. MMTS shows a higher specificity, stronger noise resistance, smaller result fluctuations, better G-means performance, and a better balance between sensitivity and specificity. This proves its scientific validity and practical applicability.
Faktor yang saling berkaitan antara lain natural dan kultural terhadap kemiskinan merupakan salah satu masalah utama pembangunan yang sifatnya kompleks dan multi dimensional, Keniskinan bukan lagi dipahami hanya sebatas ketidakmampuan ekonomi, tetapi juga kegagalan memenuhi hak-hak dasar dan perbedaan perlakuan bagi seseorang atau sekelompok orang dalam menjalani kehidupan secara bermartabat. Adapun tujuan dari penelitian ini mengenai kemiskinan natural yang dari awalnya memang miskin dan kemiskinan kultural merupakan sikap hidup seseorang atau kelompok yang disebabkan oleh gaya hidup. Metode penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif dan dekripstif. Dari hasil penelitian ini ditemukan bahwa kemiskinan natural berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap penanggulangan kemiskinan sedangkan kemiskinan kultural terhadap penanggulangan kemiskinan berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap penanggulangan kemiskinan di Medan Utara Kota Medan.
The presented article is devoted to changes in the scale and qualitative characteristics of objective and subjective poverty in Russian society over the past 20 years. Based on the data of all-Russian empirical studies conducted by the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2003, 2013 and 2023, the dynamics of the number of objectively and subjectively poor Russians, the areas of intersection of these groups, their living conditions, their perception of their situation and ideas about the future of the country are traced. The obtained results indicate a noticeable reduction in both objective poverty (by income level) and subjective poverty (by self-assessment of their financial situation) among Russians over the past 20 years, which mainly occurred in the first half of this period. The reduction in the shares of objective and subjective poverty was accompanied by their divergence. As a result, an ever smaller share of Russians find themselves in the poverty zone simultaneously in both of these dimensions, and the portraits and characteristics of these groups differ increasingly. The objectively poor differ less in their assessments of their situation and opportunities in various spheres from the population as a whole, which indicates, on the one hand, the relatively shallow nature of income poverty, and on the other, the modest standard of living of the “typical Russian”. The subjectively poor are characterised by more noticeable differences from the population as a whole, in particular, negative assessments of many spheres of their lives. A similar situation is observed with the socio-psychological well-being of representatives of these groups: although over the past 20 years it has improved both among the poor by income and among the poor by self-assessment, positive changes in the first group occurred faster. As a result, the poor by self-assessment are characterised by a higher level of pessimism and anxiety compared to other Russians. In terms of assessments of Russia's development path, both objectively and subjectively the poor differ little from other Russians, demonstrating a public consensus: the population believes in a bright future for the country, but on the condition that it follows a special path that allows for social stability. Finally, it is important to note that the subjectively poor cannot be reduced to pensioners: the data confirm that this group is heterogeneous in its composition, which determines the absence of a clear portrait and the impossibility of identifying it as a "single addressee" of socio-economic policy.
This article critically reviews the literature on urban informality, inequity, health, well-being and accountability to identify key conceptual, methodological and empirical gaps in academic and policy discourses. We argue that critical attention to power dynamics is often a key missing element in these discourses and make the case for explicit attention to the operation of power throughout conceptualization, design and conduct of research in this space. We argue that: (a) urban informality reflects the exercise of power to confer and withhold advantage; (b) the dominant biomedical model of health poorly links embodied experiences and structural contexts; (c) existing models of accountability are inadequate in unequal, pluralistic governance and provision environments. We trace four conceptual and empirical directions for transformative approaches to power relations in urban health equity research.
La satisfacción vital se basa en las experiencias individuales y es un indicador clave de la calidad de vida. La exclusión social podría tener un impacto negativo en la satisfacción vital, al restringir el acceso a derechos sociales fundamentales. El presente estudio analiza la satisfacción vital global informada por una muestra de personas en riesgo de exclusión social en Gipuzkoa (n = 208). Los resultados indican que más de la mitad de los participantes presentaban un nivel aceptable en su satisfacción vital. En los modelos de predicción de la satisfacción vital, el apoyo social y un menor aislamiento social eran las variables más relevantes. Los resultados apuntan a que es fundamental incorporar estrategias para activar y potenciar el apoyo social y la prevención del aislamiento social en las intervenciones destinadas a promover la satisfacción vital de las personas que viven en riesgo de exclusión social.
This dissertation explores the evolving intersection between happiness and development. The journey begins by tracing the evolution of happiness from a philosophical concept to a cornerstone of happiness studies and development paradigms. It highlights the shift from GDP-centric models to a happiness-centred approach. Moving into the realm of Subjective Well-being (SWB), the dissertation delves into the measurement and integration of SWB into policies. It underscores the importance of considering individual and collective well-being, with SWB emerging as a crucial component. Debates around the role of SWB in policymaking reveal its potential as an auxiliary tool within a broader well-being construct, echoing the global adoption of SWB by international organisations and governments. The exploration then pivots to Mexico's developmental trajectory, tracing its transformation from neoliberalism to the present era marked by well-being-oriented policies. The intricate relationship between happiness and Mexico is unveiled through philosophical foundations rooted in ancient traditions and statistical insights reflecting complex well-being trends. The dissertation culminates in analysing the challenges and merits of embracing happiness as a foundational framework for Mexico's development. Amidst complexities arising from cultural diversity and the intricate nature of happiness, it unveils the promise of reducing economic disparities, improving healthcare access, enhancing educational equity, fostering societal unity, and embracing cultural wisdom. This dissertation challenges conventional notions of development as a quantitative measure of progress. It emphasises that development is a human endeavour rooted in the pursuit of happiness and well-being. It raises profound questions about the balance between well-being and economic growth, urging continued dialogue and innovative approaches. Though laden with challenges, pursuing happiness-centred development promises to give life meaning and purpose, ultimately reshaping societies towards tangible happiness and fulfilment far beyond the confines of GDP.
This study analyses the influence of city size on life satisfaction among the Ecuadorian population. It distinguishes rural from urban residents and looks at the effect of environmental management. Using individual and canton-level variables, an ordinal logit model is estimated. Results suggest that individuals living in the most populated cantons report a lower level of life satisfaction. This effect varies for urban and rural residents. Environmental management is positive for life satisfaction.
This paper examines the nexus of income and multidimensional life satisfaction (LS) in the oil-and gas-rich Belait district of Brunei Darussalam. Using a random sample of 1,000 Belait residents and principal component factor analysis to sort 11 domains-of-life satisfaction into three uncorrelated LS spheres-LS with materialist life (job, stress, and income); LS with post-materialist life (family, spirituality, neighbors, and community activities); and LS with public life (health, neighborhood facility, feeling safe at home, and quality of living environment)-we discover the following. First, positive income effects on LS with materialist life sphere are evidenced from lower-middle-to high-income bands. Second, a positive income effect on LS with post-materialist life sphere is only found in the high-income band. Income does not relate to LS with public life sphere. These findings are robust to using each domains-of-life satisfaction and treating scores on domain satisfaction as ordinal and cardinal measures. * Ly Slesman (corresponding author): Centre for Advanced Research (CARe), Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
This analysis aims to provide a comprehensive representation of the role of regional disparities in the nexus between poverty and subjective wellbeing, by adding the territorial dimension to the definition of poverty conditions. We investigate the nexus using regional poverty lines, including different poverty measures and considering different life domains. The analysis focuses on Italy because of its strong regional socio‐economic disparities. Results show that the relevance of being poor on the well‐being of citizens is in general higher and significant; the intensity and severity of poverty also change for different life domains. Findings are fundamental in designing local policies against poverty.
Poverty means absence of basic needs obligatory for continued survival. The present study focuses on the causes of poverty across five tehsils of district Lasbela, namely (Bela, Dureji, Hub, Sonmiani and Uthal). Lasbela is adjacent to Karachi and famous for its historical places, coastal areas, mines, industries, and defence strategic base. But unfortunately, people of this district are deprived of basic needs. For this research cross sectional data is used which is taken from 2014 Base Line Survey (BLS, 2014) of the project “Promoting Child Rights at Cotton Farming Areas of Balochistan at Lasbela” organized by NRSP and UNICEF. The study is carried out in two segments qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative part is handled through Probit/Logit model to analyse the key variables; expenditure/Income, household head education, dependency ratio, household family size and financial aid. To evaluate the data SPSS (20.0) and E-VIEWS are also used. And Excel is used for the qualitative segment for the variable, status of employment, sources of drinking water, sources of treatment, school enrolment, sources of defecations, Per capita Income etc. The result of the study indicates that tehsil Dureji is most deprived tehsil of Lasbela, followed by Bela, Uthal, Sonmiani and Hub. The overall conclusion of the study highlights that multidimensional poverty exists this district. The Study also suggests some lucrative policies to combat multidimensional poverty like, (1) government, along with NGOs must arrange free & feasible education (2) Construction of roads to remote areas (3) increase the number of schools (4) Government should introduce Public Private Partnership Program (PPPP) (5) Government should start modern technical and vocational education in the first phase and in second phase easy access to microfinance banks and (6) Construction of dams.
This study investigates the correlation between subjective poverty, material deprivation and subjective well-being (SWB) among a representative sample of fourth and sixth grade children in Israel (N=2673). The findings show that subjec-tive poverty has a moderating effect on the association between material depriva-tion and SWB; however, the direction of this moderation differentiates between the two types of subjective poverty measures. Possible explanations are discussed, referring to the complexity of measuring and understanding the perspective of children regarding their material well-being.
This study examined the causal relationship between participation in the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) and health status among relatively poor population in rural China. Data were obtained from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2018, which contained 4,507 samples. This study used propensity score matching (PSM) to examine the net effect of participation in the NRCMS on the health of the relatively poor population, and this effect was tested for equilibrium using nearest neighbor matching, radius matching, and kernel matching. This study showed that participation in the NRCMS has a significant and positive effect on the health status of the relatively poor population and the positive health effect may come from three channels, including the increased frequency of physical activity, the fact that an individual is more likely to seek medical care at a lower level of visit, and a plan to reduce health care expenditures.
In this paper, a new approach to defining the poverty line is proposed in which family heads are asked what they consider a minimal income level for their own family. It was found that the respondents appeared to specify higher amounts, the greater their actual income and family size, and that the relationship was loglinear. For each family size there is an income level at which a respondent's stated minimum income is equal to his actual income. This level is taken as a definition of the poverty line. The poverty line thus defined varies with family size.
There is an increasing interest in understanding human behavior from a biological or evolutionary point of view. I believe this perspective on human nature may help us improve the life of the individual, and design a better society. The present article suggests a biologically-based understanding of what constitutes the quality of life, which I refer to as Darwinian happiness. The key concepts are: one, to avoid stress by adjusting the conditions of life to our inborn tendencies; and two, to utilize the reward mechanisms offered by the brain. The concepts and their implications are discussed.
The terms 'quality-of-life', 'wellbeing' and 'happiness' denote different meanings; sometimes they are used as an umbrella term for all of value, and the other times to denote special merits. This paper is about the specific meanings of the terms. It proposes a classification based on two bi-partitions; between life 'chances' and life 'results', and between 'outer' and 'inner' qualities. Together these dichotomies imply four qualities of life: 1) livability of the environment, 2) life-ability of the individual, 3) external utility of life and 4) inner appreciation of life. This fourfold matrix is applied in three ways: firstly to place related notions and alternative classifications, secondly to explore substantive meanings in various measures for quality of life and thirdly to find out whether quality-of-life can be measured comprehensively. This last question is answered in the negative. Current sum-scores make little sense. The most inclusive summary measure is still how long and happily people live.
One of the things the author learned from D. G. Freedman is that new theoretical perspectives require reexamination of the familiar. In this chapter, the familiar concept to be reexamined is human happiness and the new (to many) theoretical perspective that of evolutionary biology, an approach long espoused by Dr. Freedman. The author begins by looking briefly at how philosophers have viewed happiness, before moving on to contrast the public-health idea of happiness favored by social scientists with the individual-level focus of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists. My major concern, however, is what, if anything, evolutionary psychology tells us about the subject.
This evolutionary psychology perspective presents the human mind as not merely highly complex but as consisting of various "mental organs," each of which evolved to solve a specific adaptive problem (e.g., what decision rules to use to select a mate likely to enhance our genetic fitness, how to determine if an individual is likely to reciprocate our aid at a later time, which habitat would be the most fitness-enhancing, etc.). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
I defend a methodology for theorizing about happiness. I reject three methods: conceptual analysis; scientific naturalism; and the “pure normative adequacy” approach, where the best conception of happiness is the one that best fills a role in moral theory. The concept of happiness is a folk notion employed by laypersons who have various practical interests in the matter, and theories of happiness should respect this fact. I identify four such interests in broad terms and then argue for a set of desiderata that theories of happiness ought to satisfy. The theory of happiness falls within the province of ethics. It should, however, be viewed as autonomous and not merely secondary to moral theory.
A fairly thorough account of multiple discrepancies theory (MDT) is presented, with a review of its historical antecedents and an examination of its strength in accounting for the happiness (H) and satisfaction (S) of nearly 700 university undergraduates. Basically, MDT asserts that H and S are functions of perceived gaps between what one has and wants, relevant others have, the best one has had in the past, expected to have 3 years ago, expects to have after 5 years, deserves and needs. MDT explained 49% of the variance in H, 53% in global S and 50% or more in 7 out of 12 domain S scores. The domains studied were health, finances, family, job, friendships, housing, area, recreation, religion, self-esteem, transportation and education.
The theory that happiness is relative is based on three postulates: (1) happiness results from comparison, (2) standards of comparison adjust, (3) standards of comparison are arbitrary constructs. On the basis of these postulates the theory predicts: (a) happiness does not depend on real quality of life, (b) changes in living-conditions to the good or the bad have only a shortlived effect on happiness, (c) people are happier after hard times, (d) people are typically neutral about their life. Together these inferences imply that happiness is both an evasive and an inconsequential matter, which is at odds with corebeliefs in present-day welfare society.Recent investigations on happiness (in the sense of life-satisfaction) claim support for this old theory. Happiness is reported to be as high in poor countries as it is in rich countries (Easterlin), no less among paralyzed accident victims than it is among lottery winners (Brickman) and unrelated to stable livingconditions (Inglehart and Rabier). These sensational claims are inspected but found to be untrue. It is shown that: (a) people tend to be unhappy under adverse conditions such as poverty, war and isolation, (b) improvement or deterioration of at least some conditions does effect happiness lastingly, (c) earlier hardship does not favour later happiness, (d) people are typically positive about their life rather than neutral.It is argued that the theory happiness-is-relative mixes up overall happiness with contentment. Contentment is indeed largely a matter of comparing life-as-it-is to standards of how-life-should-be. Yet overall hapiness does not entirely depend on comparison. The overall evaluation of life depends also on how one feels affectively and hedonic level of affect draws on its turn on the gratification of basic bio-psychological needs. Contrary to acquired standards of comparison these innate needs do not adjust to any and all conditions: they mark in fact the limits of human adaptability. To the extend that it depends on need-gratification, happiness is not relative.
Although it appears that income and subjective well-being correlate in within-country studies (Diener, 1984), a debate has focused on whether this relationship is relative (Easterlin, 1974) or absolute (Veenhoven, 1988, 1991). The absolute argument advanced by Veenhoven states that income helps individuals meet certain universal needs and therefore that income, at least at lower levels, is a cause of subjective well-being. The relativity argument is based on the idea that the impact of income or other resources depends on changeable standards such as those derived from expectancies, habituation levels, and social comparisons. Two studies which empirically examine these positions are presented: one based on 18 032 college studies in 39 countries, and one based on 10 year longitudinal data in a probability sample of 4 942 American adults. Modest but significant correlations were found in the U.S. between income and well-being, but the cross-country correlations were larger. No evidence for the influence of relative standards on income was found: (1) Incomechange did not produce effects beyond the effect of income level per se, (2) African-Americans and the poorly educated did not derive greater happiness from specific levels of income, (3) Income produced the same levels of happiness in poorer and richer areas of the U.S., and (4) Affluence correlated with subjective well-being both across countries and within the U.S. Income appeared to produce lesser increases in subjective well-being at higher income levels in the U.S., but this pattern was not evident across countries. Conceptual and empirical questions about the universal needs position are noted. Suggestions for further explorations of the relativistic position are offered.
This paper puts forward The Conceptual Referent Theory of Happiness (CRT), which states that a person’s conceptual referent for a happy life plays a role in the judgment of her life and in
the appraisal of her happiness. A typology of eight conceptual referents for happiness is made on the basis of a review of
philosophical essays on happiness.The theory contributes to the understanding of happiness by focusing on a cognitive factor
involved in the judgment process: A person’s notion of what a happy life is, of what she understands for being well. Thus,
CRT complements previous research by studying what a person thinks, rather than what she feels, at the time of appraising
her life. CRT also stresses the importance of heterogeneity; this is: the conceptual referent is not the same for every person;
people have different conceptions of what a happy life is. Hence, the investigation studies the issue of superiority in the
conceptual referent for happiness. It shows that no conceptual referent can be considered as superior in the sense of being
associated to greater happiness. However, there are a few conceptual referents that are clearly inferior. The investigation
also studies the influence of socioeconomic and demographic variables in the conceptual referent a person holds. It shows
that the probability of embracing a particular conceptual referent for happiness is contingent on a person’s socioeconomic
and demographic situation. The empirical investigation is based on data from a large survey applied in Mexico.
Several studies have been conducted on the topic of well-being. Most of them, however, have been done in industrialized countries where income is distributed relatively more equitatively and the population tends to be more homogeneous. This paper studies the relationship between subjective and economic well-being in Mexico, a country where the economic differences among the population are more clearly marked.
According to the economic definition of well-being, higher levels of income are associated with higher levels of well-being through greater levels of material consumption. Taking into consideration this definition, it is worth asking just how important income is for an individual's happiness?Existing studies in psychology have found a positive correlation between economic well-being (socioeconomic status) and subjective well-being (happiness). However, this positive relationship is weak and a large percentage of human happiness remains unexplained.
Although the mentioned studies make a good approximation of the existing relationship between income and happiness, the characteristics or specification of the function that generates the relationship between these two variables is often assumed to be linear and positive. The main objective of this paper is to investigate further the relationship between subjective and economic well-being. In this study different specifications and approaches are used to approximate the relationship between these variables.
An empirical analysis is made from the results of a survey conducted in two Mexican cities. The investigation studies the impact of demographic, social, and economic variables on subjective well-being in Mexico. Several hypotheses are tested to identify the relationship between household income and individual well-being. It is found that income does not have a strong influence on neither well-being nor on the probability of happiness. However, people tend to overstress the impact that additional income would have on their subjective well-being. This fact could explain the importance that people place on increasing their income level, and it could possibly explain the relative sense of dissatisfaction once a higher income level is achieved.
The relationship between income and the sense of basic need satisfaction is also explored. A main assumption in economic theory suggests the existence of a direct relationship between these variables; however, empirical results show this relationship to be extremely weak. Results indicate that subjective well-being is positively related to the sense of basic need satisfaction but not to income.
In this paper we distinguish two ‘dimensions’ of the utility concept. The first is the ‘behavioral’ dimension, described by indifference curves in a commodity space. It may be estimated by observing consumer purchase behavior. The second dimension is the ‘welfare’ dimension, i.e., the cardinal utility levels corresponding to indifference curves. The second dimension may be estimated by means of the income evaluation approach.We deal with methodological issues and show by means of empirical evidence the validity of the income evaluation approach. In the same time we propose some major modifications of the method. Secondly, we show how the two dimensions may be combined. This is illustrated with respect to the AIDS and the Translog model. In this way we find how price and income variations influence measured individual welfare.
This investigation studies human well-being from a subjective well-being approach. On the basis of a Mexican database the investigation shows that there is a weak relationship between subjective well-being and indicators of well-being such as income and consumption. Therefore, subjective well-being provides additional useful information to study human well-being and, in consequence, poverty. Three reasons for the existence of a weak relationship are studied: First, the fact that a person is much more than a consumer; second, the role of heterogeneity in human perceptions; and third, the existence of heterogeneity in purposes of life. The understanding and abatement of poverty would be better served by a concept of human well-being which incorporates subjective well-being indicators and which is based on the wholeness and complexity of human beings.
This paper studies the nature of the relationship between life satisfaction and satisfaction in domains of life. The domains-of-life literature assumes that a person’s overall satisfaction with his or her life depends on his or her satisfaction in many concrete areas of life, which are classified into a few main domains of life. This paper addresses the issue of what characteristics the relationship between life satisfaction and satisfaction in domains of life has by focusing on its specification. The domains-of-life literature has commonly assumed that an additive relationship between domains satisfaction and life satisfaction does exist. This paper argues that the use of an additive relationship has substantially restricted our comprehension of the relationship; since it makes impossible to empirically address questions such as: Is life satisfaction just a weighted average of domain satisfactions? How easy is it to substitute satisfaction in one domain by satisfaction in another? Is it reasonable to expect similar additional benefits when we continuously improve satisfaction in one domain? What happens with our life satisfaction when we manage to continuously improve satisfaction in all domains? What happens with the importance of one domain when satisfaction in another domain declines? The paper argues that there could be substantial gains in the understanding of the relationship by assuming alternative specifications. At an empirical level the investigation works with four different specifications: an additive relationship, a semi-logarithm relationship, a logarithm–logarithm relationship, and a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) relationship. Using a database from Mexico, the investigation finds out that an additive specification provides – at least for Mexico – a goodness of fit similar to those of alternative specifications. However, there are some relevant issues in the relationship between domains satisfaction and overall life satisfaction that cannot be studied with an additive specification; hence, the␣use of an alternative specification – in particular a CES specification – is preferable if the objective is to understand rather than to predict life satisfaction.
As employers respond to intensive global competition through the deregulation of labor, job insecurity has become a widespread problem. It has been shown to have significant health impacts in a growing number of workers, but less is known about its social distribution, the mechanisms through which it may act, and the moderating effects of gender, socioeconomic position, and company size. Utilizing data from a national survey of a representative sample of paid employees in Taiwan, we examined the prevalence of job insecurity and its associations with psychosocial work characteristics and health status. A total of 8705 men and 5986 women aged between 25 and 65 years old were studied. Information on perceived job insecurity, industrial and occupational types, psychosocial work characteristics as assessed by the Job Strain model, and various measures of health status were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. The overall prevalence of job insecurity was high (50%). Job insecurity was more prevalent among employees with lower education attainment, in blue-collar and construction workers, those employed in smaller companies, and in older women. Insecure employees also reported lower job control, higher job demands, and poor workplace social support, as compared with those who held secure positions. Regression analyses showed that job insecurity was strongly associated with poor health, even with adjustment of age, job control, job demands, and work place social support. The deleterious effects of job insecurity appeared to be stronger in men than women, in women who held managerial or professional jobs than women in other employment grades, and in those working in larger companies than smaller ones. The findings of this study suggest that perceived job insecurity is an important source of stress, and it is accompanied with adverse psychosocial work conditions and poor health. High-risk groups were identified for further investigation.
El presente art�culo se centra en la modelizaci�n econ�mica y el an�lisis emp�rico de estructuras sostenibles del consumo privado, tratando de extender los modelos econ�micos convencionales de consumo. El punto de partida para el an�lisis de consumo sontenible de energ�a para el transporte es el concepto de funciones de producci�n de los hogares. El punto principal del an�lisis son los servicios de consumo derivados de una combinaci�n de stocks (sistema de transportes) y flujos (principalmente, energ�a). Los patrones de consumo sostenible pueden alcanzarse mediante una sustituci�n de flujos por stocks (por ejemplo, mejoras en la eficiencia energ�tica del sistema de transportes). Los dos factores esenciales en el contexto del consumo sostenible son, por un lado, los cambios en la demanda de los servicios de consumo deseados y, por otro, la estructura de la combinaci�n entre flujos y stocks necesarios para la provisi�n de dichos servicios. The paper focuses on economic modelling and empirical analysis of sustainable structures in private consumption and strives to extend conventional economic consumption models. Starting point for the model analysis of sustainable consumption of energy for transport purposes was the household production function concept. The focal point of the analysis is consumer services derived from a combination of stocks (transport systems) and flows (mainly energy). Sustainable consumption patterns can arise, when within service demand production substitution of flows by stocks (e.g. improvements in energy efficiency of transport systems) takes place. Two essential factors are crucial in the context of sustainable consumption: the demand shifts concerning the consumer services desired, and the composition of the stock-flow mix necessary for the service provision.
In this paper two philosophical issues are discussed that hold special interest for empirical researchers studying happiness. The first issue concerns the question of how the psychological notion(s) of happiness invoked in empirical research relates to those traditionally employed by philosophers. The second concerns the question of how we ought to conceive of happiness, understood as a purely psychological phenomenon. With respect to the first, I argue that 'happiness', as used in the philosophical literature, has three importantly different senses that are often confused. Empirical research on happiness concerns only one of these senses, and serious misunderstandings about the significance of empirical results can arise from such confusion. I then argue that the second question is indeed philosophical and that, in order to understand the nature of (what I call) psychological happiness, we need first to determine what a theory of happiness is supposed to do: what are our theoretical and practical interests in the notion of happiness? I sketch an example of how such an inquiry might proceed, and argue that this approach can shed more light on the nature and significance of happiness (and related mental states) than traditional philosophical methods.
The terms 'quality-of-life', 'well-being' and 'happiness' denote different meanings; sometimes they are used as an umbrella term for all of value, and at other times to denote special merits. This paper is about the specific meanings of the terms. It proposes a classification based on two bi-partitions; between life 'chances' and life 'results', and between 'outer' and 'inner' qualities. Together these dichotomies imply four qualities of life: 1) livability of the environment, 2) life-ability of the individual, 3) external utility of life and 4) inner appreciation of life.
This fourfold matrix is applied in three ways: firstly to place related notions and alternative classifications, secondly to explore substantive meanings in various measures for quality of life and thirdly to find out whether quality-of-life can be measured comprehensively. This last question is answered in the negative. Current sum-scores make little sense. The most inclusive measure is still how long and happily people live.
Adaptation level theory suggests that both contrast and habituation will operate to prevent the winning of a fortune from elevating happiness as much as might be expected. Contrast with the peak experience of winning should lessen the impact of ordinary pleasures, while habituation should eventually reduce the value of new pleasures made possible by winning. Study 1 compared a sample of 22 major lottery winners with 22 controls and also with a group of 29 paralyzed accident victims who had been interviewed previously. As predicted, lottery winners were not happier than controls and took significantly less pleasure from a series of mundane events. Study 2 indicated that these effects were not due to preexisting differences between people who buy or do not buy lottery tickets or between interviews that made or did not make the lottery salient. Paraplegics also demonstrated a contrast effect, not by enhancing minor pleasures but by idealizing their past, which did not help their present happiness.
Using a 2-lever choice paradigm with concurrent variable interval schedules of reward, it was found that when pulse frequency is increased, the preference-determining rewarding effect of 0.5-s trains of brief cathodal pulses delivered to the medial forebrain bundle of the rat saturates (stops increasing) at values ranging from 200 to 631 pulses/s (pps). Raising the current lowered the saturation frequency, which confirms earlier, more extensive findings showing that the rewarding effect of short trains saturates at pulse frequencies that vary from less than 100 pps to more than 800 pps, depending on the current. It was also found that the maximum possible reward--the magnitude of the reward at or beyond the saturation pulse frequency--increases with increasing current. Thus, increasing the current reduces the saturation frequency but increases the subjective magnitude of the maximum possible reward.
In rats with electrodes in the medial forebrain bundle, the upper portion of the function relating the experienced magnitude of the reward to pulse frequency was determined at currents ranging from 100 to 1,000 microA. The pulse frequency required to produce an asymptotic level of reward was inversely proportional to current except at the lowest currents and highest pulse frequencies. At a given current, the subjective reward magnitude functions decelerated to an asymptote over an interval in which the pulse frequency doubled or tripled. The asymptotic level of reward was approximately constant for currents between 200 and 1,000 microA but declined substantially at currents at or below 100 microA and pulse frequencies at or above 250 to 400 pulses per second. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the magnitude of the experienced reward depends only on the number of action potentials generated by the train of pulses in the bundle of reward-relevant axons.
An evolutionary perspective offers novel insights into some major obstacles to achieving happiness. Impediments include large discrepancies between modern and ancestral environments, the existence of evolved mechanisms "designed" to produce subjective distress, and the fact that evolution by selection has produced competitive mechanisms that function to benefit one person at the expense of others. On the positive side, people also possess evolved mechanisms that produce deep sources of happiness: those for mating bonds, deep friendship, close kinship, and cooperative coalitions. Understanding these psychological mechanisms--the selective processes that designed them, their evolved functions, and the contexts governing their activation--offers the best hope for holding some evolved mechanisms in check and selectively activating others to produce an overall increment in human happiness.
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
When comparing, say, the welfare derived from income by a family that is comprised of two adults and three children to that of a single adult, it is necessary to take into consideration the relative needs of the respective households. The most common means by which applied studies in economics currently relate the needs of heterogeneous income units is through the use of equivalence scales. Despite a considerable research effort, however, almost every aspect of equivalence scale specification remains controversial. What characteristics should equivalence scales take into account? Should the scales apply an additive or multiplicative adjustment to income? Is the assumption of base independence valid?1 How should a reference unit be selected? Is it reasonable to assume that there is no inequality within an income unit? What criteria are most sensible for selecting a functional form? And, arguably most important, do the cardinal relations implied by equivalence scales permit income units to be compared in terms of underlying welfare? All of these questions remain largely unresolved. This paper is concerned with estimating the relativities that are implicit in tax and benefits policy. Using observed tax and benefits payments to estimate equivalence scales may mitigate some of the criticisms to which alternative scale specification criteria have been subject. For example, most econometric estimates of equivalence scales used for distributional analysis are based on consumer demand behaviour. Pollak and Wales (1979, p. 216) have notably criticised this methodology on the basis that “the equivalence scales required for welfare comparisons are logically distinct from those which arise in demand analysis”. The central difficulty is that demand analysis fails to provide a basis for making cardinal comparisons of welfare between households, and so equivalence scales that are estimated from expenditure data necessarily depend upon exogenously imposed value judgements. In contrast, part of the intuitive appeal of equivalence scales based on a country’s transfer system is the perception that such relativities embody a social consensus; that the tax and benefits system, being an observable instrument of government, can be used to infer the value judgements made by government when acting in its role as administrative agent for society. Comparison of the relativities that underlie taxation with equivalence scales based on the costs borne by heterogeneous income units could also provide a useful means for evaluating the adequacy of associated provisions made by transfer systems. Alternatively, the equivalence scales implicit in transfer systems could be used to compare the provisions made through time and/or between countries. Such equivalence scales could also play a role in the tax design process itself. In view of the fact that the redistributive systems of many countries are comprised of numerous different tax and benefit schemes, it is difficult to ensure that the overall system does in fact achieve the desired redistribution. Information about implicit scales — which may on reflection be found to differ from the values held by policy makers — can be useful in suggesting that certain features of the tax system need adjusting.
Job and life satisfaction AUTHORS' NOTE: We would like to thank Indiana University Kelley School of Business for funding and to acknowledge the support of the Entrepreneurship Research Consortium (ERC) and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for the development of the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) data. J ob satisfaction has always been relatively high among American workers; since the late 1940s, about 80% have said they were “quite satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their jobs or used similar response scales to assess their satisfaction. Likewise, relative to other cultures (e.g., Japan: see Near, 1984), life satisfaction among Americans has been quite high and comparable to life satisfaction among Westerners in general (Near & Rechner, 1993). Given that Americans spend more hours at work than workers in other cultures, it is perhaps surprising that job satisfaction explains only small to moderate amounts of variance in life satisfaction. Some authors ...
An economist who is nothing but an economist is a danger to his neighbours. Economics is not a thing in itself; it is a study of one aspect of the life of man in society. John R. Hicks 1941: 6–7, cited by Meier 1991: 352 John Hicks's statement is important in many ways. First, it states that there are many aspects or domains in a person's life; thus, a person's wellbeing is expected to be related to her situation in all these aspects of life. Second, it recognises that economists usually deal with just one aspect of a person's life; hence, it is impossible to understand a person's wellbeing from an economic perspective alone. Third, it also recognises that economics, as a discipline, is an academic construct that studies only one aspect of a person's life. Hicks's comment refers to economics but it could also apply to any other of the social sciences. Fourth, it recognises that every person is in a society; hence, her wellbeing should be understood within her particular context and culture and in her relation to other persons. Consequently, a person is defined as such within her specific context, and there is no room for an out-of-any-context individual. Finally, it calls for an interdisciplinary study of human beings. This investigation uses a life-satisfaction conception to study wellbeing. The investigation directly asks persons about their satisfaction with their lives, and this information is used as a proxy for a person's wellbeing.
This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.
The findings provide strong evidence to support the Extended Satisfaction with Life Scale (ESWLS) as a valuable research technique for the study of subjective quality of life. Alfonso et al. (1996) developed the ESWLS applying research of leading scholars who have focused on improving the measurement of quality of life over the past 30 years. Factor analysis and psychometric tests were applied to document the excellent properties of the ESWLS as a survey instrument. The current research proposes important modifications of the ESWLS that extend its value for survey studies of diverse populations. The major modifications include: adding survey items to measure income, health, and safety domains which have been demonstrated to be important components of life quality (Cummins, 1996); reducing the number of survey items for each quality of life domain from five to two, thus decreasing the number of items on the revised ESWLS to 22 from the original 50; and, reducing the seven-point Likert scale to five points. The last two changes were made to reduce response time and respondent fatigue in completing the self-report survey instrument. Respondents included low income welfare clients and recently dislocated workers (n = 151); and, adult, part-time students in social work and counseling programs (n = 101). Orthogonal and oblique solutions for the modified ESWLS delineate very comparable, stable factor structures using responses from diverse populations. Using the additional, rescaled survey items, these findings provide strong support for the ESWLS in its simplified and expanded formats. This application of the original and expanded versions of the ESWLS finds the expanded version adds to the strength and usefulness of the instrument for the measurement of quality of life in a broader range of circumstances.
This article describes the development and validation of a new 35-item, multidimensional Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol). Psychometric properties of the scale are described. Consistency between the data yielded by the scale and findings reported in the literature are argued to support the validity of the instrument. It is concluded that ComQol constitutes a unique and comprehensive measure of the quality of life construct.
Presents the view that a "universal balance for judgments" must be rejected. Experiments are presented showing that the rating of misdeeds, by several hundred undergraduates, on a 5-point scale from "not particularly bad" to "extremely evil" were significantly influenced by the context of other statements in which the misdeeds were embedded. The frequency and range principles of making judgments are described and compared. It is noted that the judgment of Ss in a variety of different situations, including various sets of physical stimuli, represent a compromise between the 2 principles. Efforts to apply these principles to everyday decisions and behavior is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Subjective well-being (SWB) is an important indicator of quality oflife. SWB can be conceptualized as a momentary state (e.g., mood) aswell as a relatively stable trait (e.g., life satisfaction). Thevalidity of self-reported trait aspects of SWB has been questioned byexperimental studies showing that SWB judgments seem to be stronglycontext dependent. Particularly, momentary mood seems to have a stronginfluence on global SWB judgments. To explore the ecological validity ofthese conclusions a non-experimental longitudinal self-reportstudy with three occasions of measurement was conducted(N = 249). The associations between momentarymood ratings and global judgments of SWB (life satisfaction,satisfaction with life domains, frequency and intensity of emotions) aswell as personality ratings (self-esteem, optimism, neuroticism,extraversion) were analyzed in a multistate-multitrait-multiconstructmodel. This model takes (a) measurement error, (b) occasion-specificdeviations, and (c) stable interindividual differences into account. Itis shown that the variability in global SWB judgments and personalityratings is relatively small and much smaller than the variability inmood. Furthermore, the occasion-specific associations between moodstates, on the one hand, and global SWB and personality ratings, on theother hand, are relatively small and inconsistent. All global SWB andpersonality variables are more strongly related to mood on the traitlevel than on the occasion-specific deviation level. Therefore, incontrast to experimental studies, occasion-specific mood effects do notseem to be inherently important in ecological measurement settings.
A life satisfaction measure is developed in this paper drawn from a judgment-type theory. This measure is based on the theoretical notion of life satisfaction being a function of a comparison between perceived life accomplishments and a set of evoked standards. These standards are classified as to their derivative sources (e.g., the life accomplishments of relatives, friends, associates, past experience, self-concept of strengths and weaknesses, and average person in a similar position) and different forms (e.g., standards based on ideal, expected, deserved, minimum tolerable, and predicted outcomes). Two studies were conducted on the elderly to ascertain the internally consistent and possessing construct validity correlations through high and internally consistent and possessing construct validity correlations through high and positive correlations with the Delighted-Terrible Life Satisfaction Scale; through significant and positive correlations with cognitive age, income, employment, education, marital status, social contact, activity, religiosity, morale, television viewership, and selfrated health; and through nonsignificant correlations with chronological age, gender, and parenthood.
The development and psychometric properties of the Extended Satisfaction With Life Scale (ESWLS) are described in detail. The ESWLS is a 50-item self-report scale that measures satisfaction with life in nine domains. It can be completed by most people in under 20 minutes and can be used by researchers and clinicians. The readability of the ESWLS was estimated to be between the seventh and tenth grade levels. Internal consistency, estimated by coefficient , ranged from 0.81 to 0.96 for the individual subscales. Two-week test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.74 to 0.87. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses strongly supported the factor structure of the ESWLS. Preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity is provided as well as preliminary norms.
While life satisfaction is commonly measured as an aggregate of individual life domains, the characterisation of such domains is uncertain. This study attempts to group 173 different domains names derived from the literature under seven headings as used by the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol). It was found that 68% could be classified in this way. Moreover, due to the repeated use of some domain names, the ComQol classification included 83% of the total reported data. The ComQol domain data did not differ from single-item global measures of life satisfaction and the within-study variance was lower using the ComQol rather than the original domains. A hierarchy of domain satisfaction was found which was dominated by the domain of intimacy. The other ComQol domains were quite tightly clustered within a range of 1.08 standard deviations. No difference was found between normative data and data gathered from people with a chronic medical condition, but people selected on psychiatric criteria had a lower life quality, most particularly in the domain of intimacy. It is concluded that life satisfaction, and therefore subjective well-being, can be economically and validly measured through the seven ComQol domains.
Previous research has shown that QOL measures are reasonably reliable and valid for static analysis. This article is concerned with the validity of the measures for use in panel studies/dynamic analysis. Are they sensitive enough to register changes (i.e., enhanced satisfaction and well-being) of the kind one would expect to follow favourable life events, and also changes (i.e., reduced satisfaction and well-being) due to adverse life events? Also, do changes in satisfaction with specific domains of life produce concomitant changes in the general sense of well-being?These questions are addressed by means of a small panel study (N=184) in which respondents were interviewed first in November 1978 and a second time in January 1981. The questionnaire included a more detailed life events inventory (Dohrenwendet al., 1978) and one which contained a larger number of favourable events than inventories included in previous QOL panel studies (Campbellet al., 1976; Atkinson, 1982).Unlike previous researchers, we found some statistically significant relationships between aggregate life events scores and changes in well-being. Changes in relatively affective measures of well-being were greater than in relatively cognitive measures. We also found strong, predictable relationships between changes in domain satisfactions and changes in the general sense of well-being.
This paper puts forward a new explanation to the general finding of a weak relationship between income and happiness; which is based on the conceptual-referent theory of happiness (CRT). CRT studies what conceptual referent for happiness a person has in mind when making a judgment about her happiness. The theory states that the subjective evaluation of life as a whole is influenced by a person’s notion of what a happy life is. The theory stresses the importance of heterogeneity; this is: the conceptual referent is not the same for everybody. The paper shows that heterogeneity in the conceptual referent also extends to the relationship between happiness and income. Income is an important explanatory variable for some people, while for others it is completely irrelevant; and this depends on the conceptual referent for happiness a person holds. The existence of heterogeneity in the conceptual referent for happiness and, consequently, in the explanatory structure of happiness has important implications for behavioural economics. Happiness pursuing persons are expected to behave differently if they have different notions of what a happy life is. The empirical analysis is based on a large database from Mexico.
Does individual well-being depend on the absolute level of income and consumption or is it relative to one’s aspirations? In a direct empirical test, it is found that higher income aspirations reduce people’s utility, ceteris paribus. Individual data on reported satisfaction with life are used as a proxy measure for utility, and income evaluation measures are applied as proxies for people’s aspiration levels. Consistent with processes of adaptation and social comparison, income aspirations increase with people’s income as well as with the average income in the community they live in.
The estimation of equivalence scales is crucial in cases where a well-being comparison of persons living under different household arrangements is needed: for example, to identify the poor, to calculate poverty rates and to estimate income inequality. In spite of the importance of equivalence scales for economic policy, there is little theoretical guidance on their estimation, and most empirical studies have been carried out in developed countries. Traditional estimation methods have been criticized because of their limitations for making welfare comparisons. This paper uses a subjective well-being approach to estimate equivalence scales. The approach provides an equivalence scale founded on economic satisfaction, which can be used to make welfare comparisons for persons living under different household arrangements—for example, in households of different sizes and with different age composition of household members. The empirical study has been carried out for Mexico using a large database. The implications of the subjective well-being scale for the assessment of poverty and income inequality in Mexico are shown on the basis of a national survey and by comparison with alternative scales.