The Impact of Poverty, Income Inequality and Human Development Index on Happiness.A Panel Data Approach

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Professor, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Al-Zahra University

2 Master of Economic Development and Planning, Al-Zahra University

Abstract

Since the objective and subjective economic welfares are uncorrelated, economists are considering   subjective approach for measuring and evaluating the wellbeing of a society more than ever before. For this end, a new index was proposed to the literature known as “Happiness” index. This paper examines the impacts of the three key variables, namely poverty, income inequality and human development index on happiness for the 2005 - 2012 period. In this case a panel data of 100 countries were used. Estimations were done separately for developed countries, developing countries and both combined. The results from all three groups indicate that poverty has a negative impact on happiness, while improved income distribution increases the happiness. Furthermore, the results demonstrate a positive relationship between human development index and happiness. The important role of poverty, income inequality and human development index on happiness can be implied from the results, especially in the case of developing countries.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Economic Development Analyses
Volume 2, Issue 4 - Serial Number 5
January 2014
Pages 31-59

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