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

Interdisciplinary research project on the Abbey of S. Croce at Sassovivo in Foligno, Italy

The research project on the Abbey of S. Croce at Sassovivo in Foligno (Italy) started in 2012, based on the studies of Giovanni Carbonara and Lia Barelli from Sapienza University of Rome. The aim of the project was to investigate the abbey complex to understand the different construction phases of the buildings. In particular, the study was focused on the material aspects through the stratigraphic reading of the structures and the analysis of building materials. In this case, the extensive archival documentation is not detailed enough to reconstruct the history of the building phases. Thanks to the particular characteristics of the abbey and the multidisciplinary method of the research, this project has involved an increasing number of Italian and foreign professionals. Following the identification of the size and extension of the medi- eval church, the first archaeological excavation campaign started in 2014. It was carried out by the Postgraduate School in Architectural and Land- scape Heritage of Sapienza University of Rome and supported by the Associazione degli Amici dell’Ab- bazia di Sassovivo (Association of the Friends of Sassovivo Abbey). The first results exceeded expec- tations, revealing a much more complex situation, and new archaeological campaigns were planned (2015-2016-2017). During these investigations, we had the collaboration of the Department of Cultural Catholic Heritage of the Pontifical Gregorian Uni- versity, Department of Physics and Geology of the University of Perugia, the Department of Biologi- cal Anthropology of the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest and the Department of Anthropology of the Museum of Natural History of Budapest

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

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

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

Tanulmányok a szubjektív jóllét és az anyagi helyzet kapcsolatáról: jövedelem, fogyasztás és egyenlőtlenség = Essays on the Relationship of Subjective Well-Being and Material Welfare: Income, Consumption and Inequality

A disszertáció fejezetei a szubjektív jóllét és az anyagi helyzet témája köré szerveződnek. Három empirikus elemzésekre épülő tanulmány vizsgálja a jövedelem, a kiadások, valamint a jövedelmi egyenlőtlenség illetve csökkentése kapcsolatát a szubjektív jólléttel