Most of the studies on subjective well-being focus on the determinants of absolute life satisfaction or happiness levels. This paper asks an important but understudied question, namely, could countries achieve the same or even higher subjective well-being by using the same resources more...

The Easterlin Paradox states that at a point in time happiness varies directly with income, both among and within nations, but over time the long-term growth rates of happiness and income are not significantly related. The principal reason for the contradiction is social comparison. At a point...

To what extent do childhood experiences continue to affect adult wellbeing over the life course? Previous work on this link has been carried out either at one particular adult age or for some average over adulthood. We here use two British birth-cohort datasets (the 1958 NCDS and the 1970 BCS)...

Communism was a two-edged sword for the trustees of the former regime. Communist party members and their relatives enjoyed status and privileges, while secret police informants were often coerced to work clandestinely and gather compromising materials about friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We...

Do you feel happier when you think you are richer? How does the perception of your own economic welfare affect your life satisfaction? This study examines subjective economic welfare and life satisfaction using the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey covering years 1994 through 2018. The study...

We propose a measure of well-being efficiency to assess countries' ability to transform inputs into subjective well-being (Cantril ladder). We use the six inputs (real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom of choice, absence of corruption, and generosity) identified in...

This paper explores whether individuals that grew up in adverse environments are more likely to engage in excessive use of social media later in life. We rely on a novel EU-wide survey that comprises information on social media usage time, patterns, motivations, and potential overuse, together...

This chapter introduces identity utility to the study of (un)employment and (un)happiness. The concept is described in terms of an augmented utility function, the implications of which are assessed in light of the empirical literature on unemployment and well-being. Studies on unemployed...

This study examines the causal impact of addictive patterns of social media use on mental health outcomes through a randomized controlled trial conducted among young individuals (18 to 24 years) in Pakistan. Participants in the treatment group received an intervention designed to limit their...

The rapid rise of social media has transformed communication and raised concerns about its societal impact, particularly on mental health and well-being. Using data from a novel EU-wide survey, this study investigates the association between social media usage, loneliness, and emotional distress...