CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
PLoS One. 2024 Apr 10;19(4):e0301206. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301206. eCollection 2024.
The Easterlin paradox questions the link between economic growth and national well-being, emphasizing the necessity to explore the impact of economic elasticity, income inequality, and their temporal and spatial heterogeneity on subjective happiness. Despite the importance of these factors, few studies have examined them together, thus ongoing debates about the impact of economics on well-being persist. To fill this gap, our analysis utilizes 11 years of panel data from 31 provinces in China, integrating macroeconomic indicators and social media content to reassess the Easterlin paradox. We use GDP per capita and the Gini coefficient as proxies for economic growth and income inequality, respectively, to study their effects on the subjective well-being expressed by citizens on social media in mainland China. Our approach combines machine learning and fixed effects models to evaluate these relationships. Key findings include: (1) In temporal relationships, a 46.70% increase in GDP per capita implies a 0.38 increase in subjective well-being, while a 0.09 increase in the Gini coefficient means a 1.47 decrease in subjective well-being. (2) In spatial relationships, for every 46.70% increase in GDP per capita, subjective well-being rises by 0.51; however, this relationship is buffered by unfair distribution, and GDP per capita no longer significantly affects subjective well-being when the Gini index exceeds 0.609. This study makes a synthetic contribution to the debate on the Easterlin paradox, indicating that economic growth can enhance well-being if income inequality is kept below a certain level. Although these results are theoretically enlightening for the relationship between economics and national well-being globally, this study's sample comes from mainland China. Due to differences in cultural, economic, and political factors, further research is suggested to explore these dynamics globally.
伊斯特林悖论质疑了经济增长与国民幸福之间的联系，强调有必要探索经济弹性、收入不平等及其时空异质性对主观幸福感的影响。尽管这些因素很重要，但很少有研究将它们结合起来进行考察，因此关于经济对幸福感的影响仍存在持续的争论。为了填补这一空白，我们利用中国 31 个省份 11 年的面板数据，整合宏观经济指标和社交媒体内容，重新评估伊斯特林悖论。我们使用人均 GDP 和基尼系数分别作为经济增长和收入不平等的代理变量，研究它们对中国大陆公民在社交媒体上表达的主观幸福感的影响。我们的方法结合了机器学习和固定效应模型来评估这些关系。主要发现包括：（1）在时间关系上，人均 GDP 增长 46.70%意味着主观幸福感增加 0.38，而基尼系数增加 0.09 意味着主观幸福感下降 1.47。（2）在空间关系上，人均 GDP 每增加 46.70%，主观幸福感就会增加 0.51；然而，这种关系受到不公平分配的缓冲，当基尼指数超过 0.609 时，人均 GDP 不再显著影响主观幸福感。本研究对伊斯特林悖论的争论做出了综合贡献，表明如果收入不平等保持在一定水平以下，经济增长可以提高幸福感。虽然这些结果在理论上为全球经济与国民幸福之间的关系提供了启示，但本研究的样本来自中国大陆。由于文化、经济和政治因素的差异，建议进一步研究以探索这些动态在全球范围内的情况。
