Research on subjective wellbeing typically assumes that responses to survey questions are comparable across respondents and across time. However, if this assumption is violated, standard methods in empirical research may mislead. I address this concern with three contributions. First, I give a...

We argue that the relationship between individual satisfaction with life (SWL) and SWL inequality is more complex than described by leading earlier research such as Goff, Helliwell, and Mayraz (Economic Inquiry, 2018). Using inequality indices appropriate for ordinal data, our analysis using the...

With the appearance of “wellbeing stagnation”, the Chinese government has gradually realized the negative impact of increasingly severe environmental problem on people’s wellbeing, and has then has formulated a series of environmental policies. Based on the balanced panel data from2014 to...

There has been growing international interest in the role that wellbeing measures could play within policy making in health and social care. This project explored the opinions of a sample of UK decision-makers on the relevance of wellbeing and subjective wellbeing (by which we mean good and bad...

We study the effect of long-term care (LTC) subsidies and supports on the wellbeing of unpaid caregivers. We draw on evidence from a policy intervention, that universalized previously means-tested caregiving supports in Scotland, known as free personal care (FPC). We document causal evidence of...

We study the effect of long-term care (LTC) subsidies and supports on the wellbeing of unpaid caregivers. We draw on evidence from a policy intervention, that universalized previously means-tested caregiving supports in Scotland, known as free personal care (FPC). We document causal evidence of...

Using micro-data on six surveys – the Gallup World Poll 2005-2023, the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1993-2022, Eurobarometer 1991-2022, the UK Covid Social Survey Panel, 2020-2022, the European Social Survey 2002-2020 and the IPSOS Happiness Survey 2018-2023 – we show...

Using four cross-sectional data files for the United States and Europe we show that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) have a significant impact on subjective wellbeing (SWB) in adulthood. Death of a parent, parental separation or divorce, financial difficulties, the prolonged absence of a...

This paper tracks the outcomes of a medical intervention which provided lower limb orthosis to adults with disabilities between 2012 and 2018. Six years after the intervention, over one-third of the recipients were still using their orthotic devices. Using a discrete time hazard model, the...

To present a multifaceted and holistic perspective of what makes Singaporeans happy, Tambyah, Tan and Yuen discuss the findings and insights from the 2022 Quality of Life Survey, which examines the perceptions and views of 1,905 Singapore citizens. This is the latest survey in a series of...