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97
in the size of the differences across geographic regions or stage of economic
development.
These findings have possibly led to more questions than answers. If women’s
objective circumstances cannot explain why women are happier, then what can explain
it? Why are women in countries with low levels of women’s rights happier than men?
There are a several possible explanations that are beyond the scope of the paper, but
worth mentioning. Two possibilities, biology and personality, have largely been rejected
by the psychology literature (Nolen-Hoeksema & Rusting 1999). The third and most
likely explanation is that aspirations formed from culture and social norms play an
important role in well-being. It is possible that women have lower aspirations than men
so when they evaluate their circumstances in terms of life satisfaction, they report higher
well-being.
Lalive and Stutzer (2010) investigate whether social norms can explain why
women in Switzerland are happier relative to men despite being paid less. They use as a
proxy for social norms the percent of the community that voted for legislation for equal
rights for men and women. Surprisingly, they find that employed women have lower life
satisfaction if they live in communities where a larger percentage of the population voted
for equal rights. Easterlin and Plagnol (2008) show that early in adult life women have
higher happiness because they are more likely than men to fulfill their material goods and
family life aspirations. Later in life, the reverse is true leading men to be more
satisfaction with life. These articles suggest that aspirations and social norms play an
important role in people’s evaluation of their circumstances.
97
Object Description
| Title | Essays on health and well-being |
| Author | Zweig, Jacqueline Smith |
| Author email | smith2@usc.edu; jackiesmith04@yahoo.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Economics |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-23 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 26 Apr. 2012. |
| Date published | 2012-04-26 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Easterlin, Richard A. Ham, John C. |
| Advisor (committee member) | Melguizo, Tatiana |
| Abstract | This dissertation is comprised of three chapters that use microeconometric techniques to investigate the factors that affect people’s well-being. In the first two chapters, well-being is defined as life satisfaction or health satisfaction. The first chapter explores how the movement from socialism to capitalism affected the life satisfaction and health satisfaction of East Germans relative to West Germans after reunification. The second chapter examines whether women are happier, less happy, or equally happy as men in countries at various stages of development. The third chapter examines whether pollution affects the academic performance of school children; their academic performance and achievements will have important implications for their future well-being. |
| Keyword | happiness; well-being |
| Geographic subject | Germany |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1990/2010; 2002/2008 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3782 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Zweig, Jacqueline Smith |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Zweig-4500 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume23/etd-Zweig-4500.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 106 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 97 in the size of the differences across geographic regions or stage of economic development. These findings have possibly led to more questions than answers. If women’s objective circumstances cannot explain why women are happier, then what can explain it? Why are women in countries with low levels of women’s rights happier than men? There are a several possible explanations that are beyond the scope of the paper, but worth mentioning. Two possibilities, biology and personality, have largely been rejected by the psychology literature (Nolen-Hoeksema & Rusting 1999). The third and most likely explanation is that aspirations formed from culture and social norms play an important role in well-being. It is possible that women have lower aspirations than men so when they evaluate their circumstances in terms of life satisfaction, they report higher well-being. Lalive and Stutzer (2010) investigate whether social norms can explain why women in Switzerland are happier relative to men despite being paid less. They use as a proxy for social norms the percent of the community that voted for legislation for equal rights for men and women. Surprisingly, they find that employed women have lower life satisfaction if they live in communities where a larger percentage of the population voted for equal rights. Easterlin and Plagnol (2008) show that early in adult life women have higher happiness because they are more likely than men to fulfill their material goods and family life aspirations. Later in life, the reverse is true leading men to be more satisfaction with life. These articles suggest that aspirations and social norms play an important role in people’s evaluation of their circumstances. 97 |
