Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Happiness Decomposition: Female Optimism

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Using the Gallup World Poll, the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey we present evidence of differences in happiness by gender. Although worldwide women are happier than men, at the country level the happiness gap favors females in some cases and males in others. We decompose the happiness gap between observable characteristics and how male and females react to these characteristics. We find that the observables do not help to explain the gap, quite the contrary, they hide an unfavorable situation of women. That is to say, if females had the same objective individual characteristics than men, they would be even happier that what they currently are. We conclude that females tend to respond to individual happiness determinants in a much “favorable” way than men do. Our results are pervasive among geographic regions and country income groups. We also find a correlation between the observed and unobserved component of the happiness decomposition with gdp per capita, female life expectation and female literacy rate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The literature presents several ways for determining this non-discriminatory coefficient β*. In this paper we compute it from a pooled model over both groups (males and females) including a gender dummy.

  2. For a complete discussion of this issue see Oaxaca and Ransom (1994).

References

  • Albrecht, J., Bjorklund, A., & Vroman, S. (2003). Is there a glass ceiling in Sweden? Journal of Labor Economics, 21(1), 145–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Argyle, M. (1999). Causes and correlates of happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

  • Bauer, T., Gohlmann, S., & Sinning, M. (2007). Gender differences in smoking behavior. Health Economics, 16(9), 895–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D., & Oswald, A. (2001). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of Public Economics, 88(7–8), 1359–1386.

  • Blanchflower, D., & Oswald, A. (2007). Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle? Social Science and Medicine, 66(8), 1733–1749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blinder, A. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8(462), 436–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrillo, P., Gandelman, N., & Robano, V. (2014). Sticky floors and glass ceilings in Latin America. Journal of Economic Inequality, 12(3), 339–361.

  • Clark, A. (2003). Unemployment as a social norm: Psychological evidence from panel data. Journal of Labor Economics, 21, 323–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. E. (2007). Born to be mild? Cohort effects don’t explain why well-being is U-shaped in age. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3170.

  • Clark, A., Frijters, P., & Shields, M. (2008). Relative income, happiness and utility: An explanation of the Easterline paradox and other puzzles. Journal of Economic Literature, 46(1), 95–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A., & Oswald, A. (1994). Unhappiness and unemployment. Economic Journal, 104, 648–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P., Zonderman, A., McCrae, R., Cornoni Huntley, J., Locke, B., & Barbano, H. (1987). Longitudinal analyses of psychological well-being in a national sample: Stability of mean levels. Journal of Gerontology, 78, 50–55.

  • Cuñado, J., & Pérez-Gracia, F. (2011). Does education affect happiness? Evidence for Spain. Social Indicators Research. doi: 10.1007/s11205-011-9874-x.

  • Dayton, N. (1936). Marriage and mental disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 215, 153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dear, K., Henderson, S., & Korten, A. (2002). Well-being in Australia. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 37(11), 503–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Tella, R., Mac Culloch, R., & Oswald, A. (2003). The macroeconomics of happiness. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 85(4), 809-827.

  • Durkheim, E. ([1897] 1997). Suicide: A study in sociology. New York: The Free Press.

  • Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Life cycle happiness and its sources: Intersections of psychology, economics and demography. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27, 463482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R., & Sawangfa, O. (2007). Happiness and domain satisfaction: theory and evidence. IZA Discussion Paper No. 2584 (pp. 1–35).

  • Ferrer-i-Carbonel, A., & Frijters, P. (2004). The effect of methodology on the determinants of happiness. Economic Journal, 114, 641–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B., & Stutzer, A. (2002). The economics of happiness. World Economics, 3(1), 1–17.

  • Gandelman, N., & Piani, G. (2013). Quality of life satisfaction among workers and non-workers in Uruguay. Social Indicators Research, 111(1), 97–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerdtham, U.-G., & Johannesson, M. (2001). The relationship between happiness, health, and social-economic factors: Results based on Swedish microdata. Journal of Socio-Economics, 30(6), 553–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2012). Gender and well being around the world: Some insights from the economics of happiness. Working Paper Series number 2012-010.

  • Guven, C. (2012). You can’t be happier than your wife. Journal of economic behavior and organization, 82(1), 110–130.

  • Hayo, B., & Seifert, W. (2003). Subjective economic well-being in Eastern Europe. Journal of Economic Psychology, 24(3), 329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heffetz, O., & Rabin, M. (2013). Conclusions regarding cross group differences in happiness depend on difficulty of reaching respondents. American Economic Review, 103(7), 3001–3021.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell, J. F. (2003). How’s life? Combining individual and national variables to explain subjective well-being. Economic Modelling, 20(2), 331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. (1990). The second shift. New York, NY: Avon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jimenez-Rubio, D., & Hernandez-Quevedo, C. (2011). Inequalities in the use of health services between immigrants and the native population in Spain: What is driving the differences? European Journal of Health Economics, 12(1), 17–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lhila, A., & Long, S. (2012). What is driving the Black–White difference in low birthweight in the US? Health Economics, 21(3), 301–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López, B., & Guijarro, M. (2012). Empirical relationship between education and happiness: Evidence from Share. http://congresoreedes.unican.es/actas/PDFs/196.pdf.

  • López Ulloa, B., Møller, V., & Sousa-Poza, A. (2013). How does subjective well being evolve with age? A literature review. IZA Discussion Paper No. 7328.

  • Machado, J., & Mata, J. (2005). Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 20, 445–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mastekaasa, A. (1993). Marital status and subjective well-being: A changing relationship? Social Indicators Research, 29, 249–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melly, B. (2005). Decomposition of differences in distribution using quantile regression. Labour Economics, 12(4), 577–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, R., Hollist, C., Olsen, J., & Law, D. (2013). Marital quality and health over 20 years: A growth curve analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 75(3), 667–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mroczek, D.K. & Spiro, A., III. (2005). Changes in Life Satisfaction during Adulthood: Findings from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(1), 189–202.

  • Munn, I. A., & Hussain, A. (2010). Factors determining differences in local hunting lease rates: Insights from Blinder–Oaxaca Decomposition. Land Economics, 86(1), 66–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10–17.

  • Oaxaca, R. L. (1973). Male–female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14(3), 501–693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oaxaca, R. L., & Ransom, M. (1994). On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials. Journal of Econometrics, 61, 5–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oswald, A. J. (1997). Happiness and economic performance. Economic Journal, 107(445), 1815–1831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powdthavee, N. (2005). Unhappiness and crime: Evidence from South Africa. Economica, 72(3), 531–547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robins, N., & Regier, D. (1991). Psychiatric disorders in America: The epidemiologic catchment area study. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salinas-Jiménez, M. M., Artés, J., & Salinas-Jiménez, J. (2011). Education as a positional good: A life satisfaction approach. Social Indicators Research, 103(3), 409–426.

  • Schneeweis, N. (2011). Educational institutions and the integration of migrants. Journal of Population Economics, 24(4), 1281–1308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seifert, W. (2003). Subjective economic well-being in Eastern Europe. Journal of Economic Psychology, 24(3), 329–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shibley, J. (2007). New directions in the study of gender similarities and differences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(5), 259–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sironi, M., & Mencarini, L. (2010). Happiness, housework and gender inequality in modern Europe. European Social Review, 28(2), 203–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skoufias, E., & Katayama, R. S. (2011). Sources of welfare disparities between and within regions of Brazil: Evidence from the 2002–2003 household budget survey (POF). Journal of Economic Geography, 11(5), 897–918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2009). The paradox of declining female happiness. Working Paper Series 2009-11, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

  • Theodossiou, I. (1998). The effects of low-pay and unemployment on psychological well-being: A logistic regression approach. Journal of Health Economics, 1, 85–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vieira Lima, S. (2011). A cross country investigation of the determination of happiness gender gap. Accessible through: http://www.happinesseconomics.net/ocs/index.php/heirs/markethappiness/paper/view/345/191.

  • Veenhoven, R. (2010). Capability and happiness: Conceptual difference and reality links. Journal of Socio-Economics, 39(3), 344–350.

  • Waite, L. (1995). Does marriage matter?. Demography, 32(4), 483–407.

  • Winkelmann, L., & Winkelmann, R. (1998). Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data. Economica, 65(257), 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zweig, J. S. (2014). Are women happier than men? Evidence from the Gallup World Poll. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1389–4978. doi: 10.1007/s10902-014-9521-8.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad ORT Uruguay, Bulevar España 2633, 11300, Montevideo, Uruguay

    María Laura Arrosa & Néstor Gandelman

Authors
  1. María Laura Arrosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Néstor Gandelman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Néstor Gandelman.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 9 Are women happier than men?
Full size table
Table 10 Happiness determinants by geographic areas from the Gallup World Poll (GWP) and World Value Survey (WVS)
Full size table
Table 11 Happiness determinants by country’s income level from the Gallup World Poll (GWP) and World Value Survey (WVS)
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Arrosa, M.L., Gandelman, N. Happiness Decomposition: Female Optimism. J Happiness Stud 17, 731–756 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9618-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9618-8

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation