Work and wellbeing : a conceptual proposal

Labour is of utmost importance for human wellbeing. Yet a comprehensive framework that can reflect the empirical diversity of labour activities along with each activities' manifold effects on human wellbeing is still lacking. An additional challenge for any such framework is to adequately handle fundamental moral ambiguities, which are inherent to many forms of work. This paper argues that a conceptualisation of labour within the capability approach can meet these requirements. Specifically, I argue that labour can be conceived as a characteristic-providing activity, where obtained characteristics are then transformed into functioning achievements, while accounting for both individual and societal heterogeneity. Additionally, paying adequate attention to unfreedoms experienced by agents turns out to be vital for a comprehensive account. Finally, the paper discusses policy handles, offers suggestions for particular applications, and identifies several other benefits for labour economics

Deprivations rarely come alone. Multidimensional poverty dynamics in Europe

Despite multidimensional poverty measures becoming more popular, little is known about related dynamics at the micro-level. In this paper I propose a framework for the analysis of micro-level dynamics which are inherent to measures of multidimensional poverty. Specifically, in order to explore whether deprivations couple over time, I analyse differences in deprivation transition probabilities between multidimensionally poor and non-poor people. I argue that analysing entries and exits separately is important and that both analyses may be obtained from a single linear model per deprivation indicator. Advantages of the developed approach include that it (i) reflects and summarises relevant mechanisms, (ii) requires only short-run panel data and (iii) is suitable for monitoring purposes. Moreover, the approach may also be applied beyond multidimensional poverty analysis. I illustrate the approach using panel data of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for more than 20 countries over 2016–2020. The presented evidence suggests that deprivations tend to couple over time. Empirical patterns are broadly time-stable, but vary across countries in magnitude. Implications include that coordinated policy programmes seem critical to overcome entrenched and prevent future deprivations

Walls of glass. Measuring deprivation in social participation

Altres ajuts: RI441/6-1This paper proposes a measure for deprivation in social participation, an important but so far neglected dimension of human well-being. Operationalisation and empirical implementation of the measure are conceptually guided by the capability approach. Essentially, the paper argues that deprivation in social participation can be convincingly established by drawing on extensive non-participation in customary social activities. In doing so, the present paper synthesizes philosophical considerations, axiomatic research on poverty and deprivation, and previous empirical research on social exclusion and subjective well-being. An application using high-quality German survey data supports the measure's validity. Specifically, the results suggest, as theoretically expected, that the proposed measure is systematically different from related concepts like material deprivation and income poverty. Moreover, regression techniques reveal deprivation in social participation to reduce life satisfaction substantially, quantitatively similar to unemployment. Finally, the validity of the measure and the question of preference vs. deprivation are discussed

mpitb: a toolbox for multidimensional poverty indices

Altres ajuts: funding from the "la Caixa" foundation (LCF/PR/SR20/52550004).In this article, I present mpitb, a toolbox for multidimensional poverty indices (MPIs). The package mpitb comprises several subcommands to facilitate specification, estimation, and analyses of MPIs and supports the popular Alkire- Foster framework to multidimensional poverty measurement. mpitb offers several benefits to researchers, analysts, and practitioners working on MPIs, including substantial time savings (for example, because of lower data management and programming requirements) while allowing for a more comprehensive analysis at the same time. Aside from various convenience functions, mpitb also provides low-level tools for advanced users and programmers

The global multidimensional poverty index: harmonised level estimates and their changes over time

This paper describes the database The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): Harmonised Level Estimates and their Changes over Time. The global MPI is an international poverty measure based on ten deprivation indicators in three dimensions: health, education, and living standards. The database contains estimates for the multidimensional poverty index itself (the adjusted headcount ratio), related partial indices such as the headcount ratio, the intensity, indicator-specific indices, and several auxiliary statistics as well as changes over time for most quantities. For this database all deprivation indicators have been harmonised over time. Our database covers estimates for 84 countries and 814 subnational regions for up to four points of observation. The estimates are based on 211 individual survey datasets, mostly the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). Combining information of different dimensions of human well-being, the global MPI inherently invites interdisciplinary research

Racing ahead or lagging behind? Territorial cohesion in human development around the globe

This paper investigates whether global improvements in human development involve sub-national regions in a territorially cohesive way. For that purpose, we use a sub-national human development index for over 1765 regions within 162 countries over three decades, and propose measures for relative over- and under-performance. We observe that under- and over-development within countries tends to disappear over time around the world. In contrast, from a global perspective, we detect the presence of a non-negligible set of under-developing sub-national regions spanning across 20+ countries that, in the last two decades, have failed to catch-up with the world average human development

Who Is Bowling Alone? Quantile Treatment Effects of Unemployment on Social Participation

The author gratefully acknowledges funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities' Juan de la Cierva Research Grant Programs (IJCI-2017-33950), the European Research Council (ERC-2014-StG637768, EQUALIZE project); and the CERCA Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya.This article examines heterogeneity in the effect of unemployment on social participation. Whereas existing studies on this relationship essentially estimate mean effects, we use quantile regression methods to provide a broader and more complete picture. To account for the potential endogeneity of job loss, we estimate quantile treatment effects (on the treated) based on entropy balancing and focus on unemployment due to plant closures. Using German panel data, we show that the effect of unemployment varies across the distribution of public social activities. It is large and negative for individuals in the middle and lower part of the distribution of public activities, whereas those participating a lot are not affected. By contrast, the effect of unemployment on private social participation is virtually zero for individuals at the lower part of the outcome distribution and weakly positive in the middle. Our findings suggest that active labor market policies should account for targetgroup specific elements, tailored to those individuals which are most adversely affected by unemployment

Work, Subjective Well-being and Capabilities

Chapter 2: This chapter explores the link between poverty as capability deprivation and current life satisfaction. Using German panel data, I examine both whether capability deprivation does hurt and whether individuals eventually adapt. To detect capability deprivation I draw on the notion of an inadequate income together with nonconsumption data of specific commodities. Assumptions and conditions rendering this approach valid are scrutinised. The results indicate that capability deprivation reduces life satisfaction significantly. Moreover the evidence also suggests that individuals fail to adapt within the subsequent four to six years. Finally, the mere lowness of income fails to capture its inadequacy. Chapter 3: This chapter scrutinises the influence of job characteristics on subjective well-being. The capability approach perspective provides a profound conceptual underpinning that supports the interpretation of the results and guides the operationalisation of job characteristics. The empirical analysis employs both a confirmatory factor analysis and the common life and job satisfaction frameworks. Job characteristics are found to increase both job and life satisfaction significantly. Moreover, they also account for what has been called procedural utility and occupational differences in job satisfaction alike. The results suggest that exercises in this vein may help in setting the stage for a more comprehensive and compelling approach to human well-being. Chapter 4: Job characteristics have been studied from various perspectives. Their influence on labour supply, however, has mostly been neglected. The aim of this paper is thus twofold: First, we propose a consistent conceptual framework, based on Lancaster’s approach to consumer theory, for rationalizing such characteristics in conventional theoretical labour supply models. Within this framework, we investigate two main hypotheses: Favorable job characteristics imply (i) lower wage elasticities of labour supply but (ii) larger (less negative) income elasticities. Second, we provide new empirical evidence on the job characteristics-labour supply nexus by estimating a standard discrete choice model using Australian data. The empirical findings lend support to our hypotheses and thus buttress the importance of job characteristics in labour supply decisions

Unemployment as a Social Norm Revisited Novel Evidence from German Counties

Unemployment is associated with a loss in utility. This utility loss can be mitigated through coping strategies, which vary with age and gender. Using highly detailed German county level data, we test whether the social norm effect of unemployment is age-dependent. The well-being differential between the unemployed and the employed is found to increase with the local unemployment rate at the beginning of the working life but to remain steady or even to decrease in older age. Individual unemployment, however, remains an extremely unpleasant experience even if local unemployment is high

The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2023 disaggregation results and methodological note

This Methodological Note presents the methodology and technical decisions that underlie the published disaggregation results (age groups, rural and urban areas, subnational regions and gender of household head) of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2023. The 2023 MPI disaggregation results are based on the most recent data from 110 countries, covering 6.1 billion people. We estimate the MPI and its associated statistics by four age categories (0 to 9 years, 10 to 17 years, 18 to 59 years, and over 60 years) as well as two broad age categories covering children aged 0 to 17 years and adults 18 years and older, by rural and urban areas, and gender of the household head. In addition, the MPI is also computed for 1,281 subnational regions to show disparities in poverty within countries. Subnational disaggregations are published when the survey used for the global MPI is representative at the subnational level and the retained sample permits. This document is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the global MPI structure and indicator definitions. Section 3 provides an outline of the global MPI and its partial indices that we estimate and publish. Section 4 outlines the disaggregation methodology. Section 5 outlines the principles and decisions that underlie our disaggregation work. Section 6 summarises the country-specific decisions that were applied for the new or updated datasets in this round. We conclude with brief closing summary