Chen Wen-Yi, Hsu Lin-Ying
Department of Senior Citizen Service Management, National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taichung, 403301, Taiwan.
Community Health Center, Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taichung, 427213, Taiwan.
Heliyon. 2024 Feb 16;10(5):e26544. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26544. eCollection 2024 Mar 15.
The Easterlin paradox illuminates the counter-intuitive finding that happiness is unlikely to increase with economic growth over time. This study investigates the income-happiness relationship through the concept of β convergence (i.e., the catch-up effect). To this end, we first employed the KPSS panel unit root tests to reveal the time-varying patterns in convergences between the happiness index and real GDP per capita. Then, we conducted analyses of contingency for the linkage between the happiness catch-up and income catch-up effects via estimation using the random coefficient logit model. The data used in this study were obtained from World Database of Happiness and World Development Indicators Database. Our results indicate that both the happiness index and real GDP per capita in selected European countries exhibited signs of catch-up with their benchmark countries over the period of 1975-2020. The average income catch-up effect (generated from group mean of all individual effects) positively impacted the social harmonization of well-being (i.e., the average happiness catch-up effect). Since economic growth is the major force driving the income catch-up effect, the positive linkage between happiness and income catch-up effects provides solid proof of the beneficial effect of economic growth on the social harmonization of well-being.
随着时间的推移，幸福不太可能随着经济增长而增加。本研究通过β收敛概念（即追赶效应）来考察收入与幸福之间的关系。为此，我们首先采用KPSS面板单位根检验来揭示幸福指数与实际人均国内生产总值之间收敛的时变模式。然后，我们通过使用随机系数logit模型进行估计，对幸福追赶效应与收入追赶效应之间的联系进行了列联分析。本研究使用的数据来自世界幸福数据库和世界发展指标数据库。我们的结果表明，在1975年至2020年期间，选定欧洲国家的幸福指数和实际人均国内生产总值均显示出与其基准国家的追赶迹象。平均收入追赶效应（由所有个体效应的组均值产生）对幸福的社会和谐（即平均幸福追赶效应）产生了积极影响。由于经济增长是推动收入追赶效应的主要力量，幸福与收入追赶效应之间的正向联系为经济增长对幸福社会和谐的有益影响提供了确凿证据。
