We explore the link between child gender and household financial decisions within a cultural environment that strongly favours having a son. Using data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we find that the presence of a daughter is associated with a lower saving rate, consistent with...

Public support for foreign aid in donor countries is highly correlated with how much donor countries are willing to give. There is, perhaps surprisingly, relatively little evidence on the determinants of public support for foreign aid in donor countries. And the evidence that does exist is for...

This paper examines the impacts of subjective and objective measures of environmental quality on happiness and willingness to pay higher prices in China. We find that a higher level of happiness is associated with better air quality, but not necessarily with better water quality. The government...

Achievement goal is a cognitive representation that guides behavior to a competence-related future end state. Existing theories and empirical findings imply that achievement goal is potentially related to life satisfaction. However, the relationship between achievement goal and life satisfaction...

Impression management, or self-presentation, prevails in our daily lives. However, whether it enhances individuals’ happiness remains underexplored. This paper examines the relationship between impression management and life satisfaction, and whether the sense of control and loneliness mediate...

This study uses the longitudinal data from the Building a New Life in Australia survey to examine the relationships between human capital and labour market participation and employment status among recently arrived/approved humanitarian migrants. It includes attention to the heterogeneity of...

We examine the educational spillover effects of migrant students on local students’ academic achievement in public middle schools in urban China. The identification of peer effects relies on idiosyncratic variation in the proportion of migrant students across classes within schools. We find...

This study examines the relationship between consumption and happiness, using panel data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). We find that total consumption expenditure has a significant and positive effect on happiness, but we find no evidence of a non-linear relationship between consumption...

Older people experience high rates of depression and suicide, yet they make a positive net contribution to the economy through activities such as employment, volunteering, and looking after grandchildren. The wellbeing of older people is therefore important not only on moral but also economic...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy measures to control its spread – lockdowns, physical distancing, and social isolation – has coincided with the deterioration of people's mental well-being. We use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) to document how this phenomenon is...