Are more equal societies happier?: Subjective well-being, income inequality, and redistribution

Using four waves of the European Social Survey, we analyze the association of income inequality and redistribution with subjective well-being. Our results provide evidence that people in Europe are negatively affected by income inequality, while reduction of inequality has a positive effect on well-being. Since we simultaneously estimate the effects of inequality and its reduction, our results indicate that not only the perceived income inequality what influences subjective well-being, but also the process, the extent of redistribution, what lead to that state. These impacts are different in Eastern and Western Europe. Inequality aversion and the positive effect of redistribution seem to be stronger also for less affluent members of the societies and left-wing oriented individuals

Szubjektív jóllét és anyagi helyzet: A kvantilis regresszió és az általánosított ordered probit modell eredményeinek összehasonlítása a standard elemzési módszerekkel

In this study we examine the association between subjective well-being and material welfare using the data of 3600 individuals from the TÁRKI Household Monitor for the year 2007. Most of the empirical papers on the effect of income on subjective well-being use either OLS regression or ordered probit model. We apply various methods to explore this relationship more deeply. Comparing the results of OLS regression with quantile regression, and the ordered probit model with a generalized ordered probit model we show that more flexible techniques provide a more complete picture of the income-satisfaction relationship. In the OLS regression income has a positive impact on satisfaction, but the quantile regression models show that this association is less strong at the upper end, and stronger at the lower end of the conditional distribution of well-being. The standard ordered probit model predicts a significant positive effect at the highest satisfaction category, whereas the generalized model finds that income does not affect the probability of this highest response. On the other hand the generalized ordered probit model predicts a more negative effect for the lower response categories of satisfaction than the standard ordered probit model. These results suggest that higher income reduces unhappiness, but one can be satisfied without high income as well. Our results draw attention to the importance of the choice of methods in satisfaction research

The association between experiential and material expenditures and subjective well-being: New evidence from Hungarian survey data

In the last decade, a number of experiments have stated that spending money on experiences rather than on material goods tends to make people happier. However, the experimental designs used to analyze the relationship between consumption and subjective well-being had several limitations: small and homogeneous samples, a direct question assessing the effect of consumption, and a potential social desirability bias due to the stigmatization of materialism. To reduce these limitations, we used a survey method. In two studies based on survey data from nationally representative samples in Hungary, we estimated linear and non-linear associations of experiential and material expenditures with life satisfaction. Although both experiential and material expenditures were positively associated with life satisfaction, evidence supporting the greater return received when buying experiences was limited. The main difference between experiential purchases and material purchases was that the marginal utility of experiential purchases appeared to be linear, whereas the marginal utility of material purchases was decreasing. Despite the limited differences between the effects of experiential and material purchases, the results of the non-linear estimates indicate that to maximize life satisfaction, an average person should allocate more money to buying experiences rather than material goods

Smoking ban and health at birth

In 2012, smoking restrictions were extended to hospitality venues in Hungary. Women working in bars and restaurants were primarily affected by the intervention. In this research, we analyze the effect of this smoking ban on the outcomes of their intended pregnancies. Using complete individual live birth, fetal loss (miscarriage, stillbirth), and infant mortality registry data, we examine the probability of live birth, indicators of health at birth, and the probability of death in the first year of life. We perform a difference-in-differences estimation and show that the smoking ban has improved health at birth of the newborns of mothers working in bars and restaurants and has reduced infant mortality among them. Performing a series of robustness tests, we provide evidence that strongly supports the causal interpretation of our results. We also show that the ban was more beneficial for newborns of parents with low educational attainment and with lower fetal health endowments

Does the unemployment rate moderate the well-being disadvantage of the unemployed? Within-region estimates from the European Social Survey

Using eight waves of the European Social Survey, we analysed how the local unemployment rate influences the well-being disadvantages of the unemployed. We estimate region fixed effects and slopes models that, unlike the standard region fixed effects approach, provide an unbiased estimate of the cross-level interaction term (the term between being unemployed and the unemployment rate). We find that the satisfaction of unemployed people (relative to employed people) is lower when the unemployment rate is higher. The results are similar for the depression scores, but the differences are smaller and insignificant regarding the happiness scores. Our results do not support the 'social norm of unemployment' hypothesis that states that the negative impacts of unemployment are smaller if the unemployment rate is higher. In contrast, these results are in line with the argument that worse re-employment perspectives in high-unemployment regions may be particularly harmful to unemployed people. We note that these results do not contradict the claim that, in regions with a weaker social norm to work, unemployed people may be more satisfied. Instead, the results suggest that the unemployment rate is not a good proxy for the social norm to wor

Future of the EU and UK trade relations in light of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement : contextualizing Brexit and trade

This paper aims to contextualize Brexit from the perspective of international trade law. It first discusses the history of Brexit from a general and trade perspective. This is followed by an overview of the negotiations also from an international trade perspective. It then proceeds to examine the general context and content of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and evaluate it in comparison to the pre-Brexit trade situation. In the conclusion the author briefly discusses existing trade disputes between the EU and the UK, before attempting to conjecture on the future of the trade relationship