This paper adopts a more expansive definition of Human Development than that encompassed by the Human Development Index in order to explore diverse country patterns of behavior in relation to these broadened dimensions. We proceed by first identifying the dimensions to be investigated and...

We test empirically whether people’s life satisfaction depends on their relative income position in the neighbourhood, drawing on a unique dataset, the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) matched with micro-marketing indicators of population characteristics. Relative deprivation theory...

The paper uses household economic panel data from five countries – Australia, Britain, Germany, Hungary and The Netherlands – to provide a reconsideration of the impact of economic well-being on happiness. The main conclusion is that happiness is considerably more affected by economic...

This paper investigates the relationship between income satisfaction of adult children and their relative economic status, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and income rank as an indicator of status. The results show that children appear to compare their actual economic status with...

The well-known Easterlin paradox points out that average happiness has remained constant over time despite sharp rises in GNP per head. At the same time, a micro literature has typically found positive correlations between individual income and individual measures of subjective well-being. This...

Official U.S. poverty statistics based on household income imply that the proportion of the U.S. population below the poverty level reached a minimum in 1973, giving rise to the widespread impression that the elimination of poverty is impossible. By contrast, poverty estimates based on household...

The official U.S. government figures showed an increase in the poverty rate from 11.1 percent in 1973 to 13.8 percent in 1995. However, some maintain that this upward trend is due to defects in the official poverty measure. This paper analyzes alternative measures of poverty and concludes that...

Despite the increasing consumption of new media, watching television remains the most important leisure activity worldwide. Research on audience reactions has demostrated that there are major contradictions between television consumption and the satisfaction obtained from this activity. Similar...

The paper tests the hypothesis of a positive impact of democratization on growth, economic development and changes in well-being. We construct an empirical model to explain the impact of political institutions (democracy), economic institutions, financial market efficiency, scientific...

This paper presents an analysis of the facts related to domestic violence, focusing on the social stratum to which the interviewees belong to. This is a report of cases of violence within the family in victims and offenders who came to the Forensic Center in the City of Merida during 2004....