Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Freedom and Rationality as Predictors of Cross-National Happiness Patterns: The Role of Income as a Mediating Variable

  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Freedom and rationality have traditionally been viewed as essential ingredients to the 'pursuit of happiness'. Previous research has found that the way in which happiness is linked to freedom and other attributes of individualistic society is affected by the income level. This paper formulates a structural model of the linkage between political freedom, rationality, and happiness which takes explicit account of income as a mediating variable. Since income is hypothesized to be linked to the degree of freedom and rationality prevailing in a society, this approach permits to distinguish between direct and indirect linkages of happiness to freedom and rationality. Estimating the model with cross-national data yields the following key findings: (1) Happiness is positively related to freedom as well as to rationality at high freedom/rationality levels and negatively at low levels. (2) Whereas freedom affects happiness only indirectly (through its impact on income), rationality has both direct and indirect effects on happiness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Barro, R.J.: 1996, ‘Democracy and growth’, Journal of Economic Growth 1, pp. 1-27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, R. and J.G. McKinnon: 1993, Estimation and Inference in Econometrics (Oxford University Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., E.M. Suh, R.E. Lucas and H.L. Smith: 1999, ‘Subjective well-being: Three decades of progresss’, Psychological Bulletin 125, 276-302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. and S. Oishi: 2000, ‘Money and happiness: Income and subjective wellbeing across nations', in E. Diener and E.M. Suh (eds), Culture and Subjective Well-Being (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, C.G.: 1991, ‘Religious involvement and subjective well-being’, Journal of Health and Social Behavior 32, pp. 80-99.

    Google Scholar 

  • ESI: 2001, 2001 Environmental Sustainability Index, World Economic Forum (WEF), Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP), Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), January 2001, www.ciesin.columbia.edu/indicators/ESI.

  • Freedom House: 2000, Freedom in the World 1999-2000, (Freedom House, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B.S. and A. Stutzer: 2002, ‘What can economists learn from happiness research?’, Journal of Economic Literature XL, pp. 402-435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. and H.D. Klingemann: 2000, ‘Genes, culture, democracy, and happiness', in E. Diener and E.M. Suh (eds), Culture and Subjective Well-Being (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, R. and C. Jones: 1999, ‘Why do some countries produce so much more output per worker than others?’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 114, pp. 83-116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell, J.F.: 2003, ‘How's life? Combining individual and national variables to explain subjective well-being’, Economic Modelling 20, pp. 331-360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, C.: 1999, ‘Does growth cause happiness, or does happiness cause growth?’, Kyklos 52, pp. 3-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sala-i-Martin, X.: 1997, ‘I just ran two million regressions', American Economic Review 87, pp. 178-183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A.: 1999, Development as Freedom (Random House, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schyns, P.: 1998, ‘Crossnational differences in happiness: Economic and cultural factors explored’, Social Indicators Research 43, pp. 3-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R.: 1993, Happiness in Nations: Subjective Appreciation of Life in 56 Nations 1946-1992 (Erasmus University Press, Rotterdam)

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R.: 1995, ‘The cross-national pattern of happiness: Test of predictions implied in three theories of happiness', Social Indicators Research 34, pp. 33-68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R.: 1997, Advances in Understanding Happiness, Erasmus University Rotterdam, published in French in Revue Quebecoise de Psychologie 18, pp. 29-79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R.: 1999, ‘Quality of life in individualistic society: A comparison of 45 nations in the early 1990s', Social Indicators Research 48, pp. 157-186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R.: 2000, ‘Freedom and happiness: A comparative study in forty-four nations in the early 1990ss’, in E. Diener and E.M. Suh (eds), Culture and Subjective Well-Being (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R.: 2001, World Database of Happiness, www.eur.nl/fws/research/happiness, 1 August, 2001.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany

    Heinz Welsch

Authors
  1. Heinz Welsch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Welsch, H. Freedom and Rationality as Predictors of Cross-National Happiness Patterns: The Role of Income as a Mediating Variable. Journal of Happiness Studies 4, 295–321 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026249123711

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026249123711

Search

Navigation