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Quality of Life in the Economic and Urban Economic Literature

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Abstract

Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly becoming a concept researched empirically and theoretically in the field of economics. In urban economics in particular, this increasing interest stems mainly from the fact that QoL affects urban competitiveness and urban growth: research shows that when households and businesses decide where to locate, QoL considerations can play a very important role. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the way economic literature and urban economic literature in particular, have adopted QoL considerations in the economic thinking. Moreover, it presents the ways various studies have attempted to capture the multidimensional nature of the concept, and quantify it for the purposes of empirical research. Conclusions are drawn on the state of affairs regarding the study of QoL in economics, as well as the problems of measurement arising mainly from the complex nature of the concept.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Department of Economics, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK

    Dionysia Lambiri

  2. Dipartimento di Economia, Impresa e Regolamentazione and CRENoS, Università di Sassari, Via Torre Tonda 34, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    Bianca Biagi

  3. Facultad CC. Económicas, Grup d’Anàlisi Quantitativa Regional-AQR (Universitat de Barcelona), Av. Diagonal, 690, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Vicente Royuela

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  1. Dionysia Lambiri
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  2. Bianca Biagi
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  3. Vicente Royuela
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Correspondence to Bianca Biagi.

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Lambiri, D., Biagi, B. & Royuela, V. Quality of Life in the Economic and Urban Economic Literature. Soc Indic Res 84, 1–25 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-9071-5

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