Midiendo la calidad de vida en América Latina

En este trabajo se analizan los problemas relacionados con un enfoque más amplio basado en la calidad de vida, en vez de un enfoque basado únicamente en el ingreso, para la evaluación o distribución de la beneficencia pública. Se muestra la manera en que un enfoque de calidad de vida puede ayudar a evaluar los efectos sobre la beneficencia de factores que van desde la salud, la educación y el desempleo hasta disposiciones institucionales tales como la desigualdad y la oportunidad. No obstante, inferir implicaciones de políticas directamente resulta problemático, porque las normas y expectativas inciden en la manera en que los individuos responden a las encuestas y la definición de felicidad o satisfacción no está del todo clara. Esto último permite establecer comparaciones en cuanto a investigación entre individuos y culturas, pero tiene sus inconvenientes en tanto que base para el diseño de políticas.

Late-life work and well-being

Flexible work time and retirement options are a potential solution for the challenges of unemployment, aging populations, and unsustainable pensions systems around the world. Voluntary part-time workers in Europe and the US are happier, experience less stress and anger, and are more satisfied with their jobs than other employees. Late-life workers, meanwhile, have higher levels of well-being than retirees. The feasibility of a policy that is based on more flexible work arrangements will vary across economies and sectors, but the ongoing debate about these multi-tiered challenges should at least consider such arrangements

Valuing Health Conditions - Insights from Happiness Surveys across Countries and Cultures

This paper assesses the effects of different health conditions on happiness. Based on a large data set for Latin America, the effects of different conditions are examined across age, gender, and income cohorts. Anxiety and pain have stronger effects than physical problems, likely because people can adapt better to one-time shocks than to constant uncertainty. The negative effects of health conditions are very large when compared to the effects of income on happiness. While higher peer income typically elicits envy, better peer health provides positive signals for life and health satisfaction. Nonetheless, health norms vary widely across countries. The results suggest that the life satisfaction approach applied to surveys of health may contribute to better health expenditure and policy decisions.Happiness, Health economics, Public policy, Surveys