Subjective Wellbeing in Colombia : Some Insights on Vulnerability, Job Security, and Relative Incomes
A burgeoning literature explores the extent to which consumption or income inadequately reflect people's subjective wellbeing, just as GDP at times can provide an incomplete and misleading picture of national wellbeing. Scholars are increasing...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/10/18425196/subjective-wellbeing-colombia-some-insights-vulnerability-job-security-relative-incomes http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16887 |
| Summary: | A burgeoning literature explores the
extent to which consumption or income inadequately reflect
people's subjective wellbeing, just as GDP at times can
provide an incomplete and misleading picture of national
wellbeing. Scholars are increasingly using data on
subjective wellbeing to complement traditional welfare
indicators and to enrich our understanding of wellbeing and
quality of life. The paper builds on the present research
but it analyzes a much broader, more interdisciplinary, and
more policy-relevant range of potential determinants
simultaneously than currently existing in the literature on
subjective wellbeing. It first analyzes the relative
importance of a wide range of characteristics and conditions
at the individual, household, regional and macro levels on
levels of subjective wellbeing in Colombia in 2010/11; and
second, assesses the marginal effects of a number of factors
on perceived changes in levels of subjective wellbeing over
time for the same respondents from 2008/09 to 2010/11.
Findings show that increasing the quality of life of
Colombians is largely conditional on minimizing risks and
vulnerabilities: reducing the rate and duration of
unemployment; improving the delivery of public health
services; increasing the share of people with health and
pension plans; enhancing safety and security in communities;
and reducing levels of discrimination. It finds that job
loss has particularly strong effects on levels of
satisfaction that are larger than those for increased
income, while also controlling for a decrease in income that
is often related to being unemployed, suggesting that the
human welfare (non-pecuniary) costs of unemployment are
driving the strong effects. Moreover, any job, even a
low-quality job, is overall better for one's subjective
wellbeing than being unemployed. Finally, policy aimed at
improving people's subjective wellbeing will likely
have the greatest impact if focused on mitigating
vulnerabilities and negative shocks that people face. |
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