Consumption and Happiness

<p>We examine the relationship between (relative) consumption and happiness using panel data for China, an important developing country. We find that consumption has a positive effect on happiness. An increase in the average consumption of those of the same age, education and gender at the community level has a positive effect on happiness, consistent with a signalling effect, while an increase in the consumption of the highest spenders in this group engenders a jealousy effect. There is mixed evidence that conspicuous consumption and consumption that increases social connectedness increases happiness, while relative deprivation in visible consumption has strong negative effects on happiness. Our findings add to the literature on the effect of relativities in influencing individual happiness.</p

Fiscal Decentralisation, the Knowledge Economy and School Teachers’ Wages in Urban China

<p>We examine how fiscal decentralisation and progress towards the development of a knowledge-intensive economy has affected teachers’ wages in China, utilising panel data from 2001 to 2013. We find that fiscal decentralisation has a negative impact on teachers’ wages and that this effect is magnified through a deepening of the knowledge economy, while the knowledge economy itself has no effect on teachers’ wages. The findings suggest that incentives being offered to local administrators need to be revisited if China is convinced of the need to increase teacher quality in ways suited to the knowledge economy which it wishes to construct.</p

Girl Power: Stipend Programs and the Education of Younger Siblings

<p>We examine the effects of the schooling of girls on the education of their younger siblings. To examine the causal effect of the education of older children on their younger siblings, we use the introduction of a gender-targeted conditional cash transfer program – the Female Secondary School Stipend Program (FSSSP) in Bangladesh. We find that an additional year of schooling of older siblings increases schooling of their younger siblings by 0.13 years. The stipend program accounts for about a 10 per cent increase in the schooling of younger siblings. The results suggest that stipend programs can bring both short- and long-term gains, not only via direct benefits to affected children, but also via indirect benefits to their siblings.</p