En fondant l’Observatoire du bien-être, le CEPREMAP a voulu créer et animer une communauté scientifique ayant en commun en travail sur les métriques de bien-être subjectif. Nous avons déjà réuni tout un réseau, mais les jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses y sont peu présents. Nous vous demandons donc de transmettre cette newsletter aux doctorantes et doctorants du domaine, et de les mettre en contact avec nous !
Cette rentrée 2020 reste dominée par une grande incertitude liée à l’évolution de l’épidémie de Covid-19. Les études réalisées dans plusieurs pays confirment les premiers constats faits durant le confinement : celui-ci a été particulièrement difficile à vivre pour les jeunes adultes. Il a en outre accru la pression sur les mères, qui ont pris en charge une grande part du travail supplémentaire lié à la présence des enfants. Par ailleurs, nous constatons que les personnes plus heureuses sont plus enclines à respecter les mesures sanitaires. Cette plus forte conformité peut devenir un élément-clef pour le maintien d’une stratégie d’endiguement au moins jusqu’à l’obtention d’un vaccin.
Version PDF : 2020-10-Newsletter-OBE-35
Observatoire
Faites-nous connaître !
Nous sommes heureux d’envoyer chaque mois cette newsletter à plus de soixante destinataires. Toutefois, nous constatons que nous avons dans cette liste peu de jeunes chercheuses et chercheurs, en particulier en cours de thèse. Nous pensons que notre travail de veille sur les articles, les sources de données et les méthodes peuvent constituer une aide particulièrement précieuse dans ce premier temps du métier que constitue la thèse.
Nous vous invitons donc à transmettre ce message aux doctorants et doctorantes de votre entourage qui travailleraient sur des enjeux de bien-être subjectif, et de nous les signaler afin que nous leur proposions de rejoindre le réseau de l’Observatoire !
Are Happier People More Compliant? Global Evidence From Three Large-Scale Surveys During Covid-19 Lockdowns
Abstract: Around the world, governments have been asking their citizens to substantially change their behaviour for a prolonged period of time, by practising physical distancing and staying at home, to contain the spread of Covid-19. Are happier people more willing to comply with these measures? Using three independent surveys covering about 119,000 adult respondents across 35 countries, including longitudinal data from the UK, we found that past and present happiness predicts compliance during lockdown. The relationship is stronger for those with higher levels of happiness. A negative mood, or loss in happiness, predicts lower compliance. We explored risk-avoidance and pro-social motivations for this relationship, and found that motivations for compliance are not uniformly distributed but dependent on personal characteristics and context: people who are older or have certain medical preconditions seem to be predominantly motivated by risk-avoidance, whereas motivations of people who are less at risk of Covid-19 seem more mixed. Our findings have implications for policy design, targeting, and communication.
Krekel, Christian, Sarah Swanke, Jan De Neve, and Daisy Fancourt. 2020. “Are Happier People More Compliant? Global Evidence from Three Large-scale Surveys During Covid-19 Lockdowns.” PsyArXiv. July 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/65df4
Job opportunity: Research Analyst in Wellbeing Science
Le Wellbeing Research Centre, Harris Manchester College, Oxford recrute un.e Research Analyst pour travailler sur les questions de bien-être subjectif.
Candidatures ouvertes jusqu’au 05 octobre.
https://wellbeing.hmc.ox.ac.uk/vacancies
Centre National de Ressources et de Résilience
Le CN2R est une structure interministérielle, multidisciplinaire destinée à travailler sur la connaissance du psychotraumatisme pour améliorer la prise en charge des victimes, quelle que soit l’origine du traumatisme.
Le CN2R propose en particulier des bourses de Master, de doctorat ou de post-doctorat pour les travaux sur les troubles post-traumatiques. Il dispose également d’une cellule méthodologique d’appui pour les projets d’études sur les traumatismes et la résilience.
Covid-19
Mal-être des adolescents britanniques
L’Université d’Oxford a lancé un programme d’analyse des conséquences de l’épidémie sur le bien-être des enfants et adolescents (8 – 18 ans). Sur la base d’une cohorte de 19 000 élèves, les chercheurs ont publié leurs premiers résultats. La moitié des élèves de 12e année (classe de Première) déclarent que leur bien-être a diminué à cause du confinement, et un quart qu’il a augmenté.
Les résultats suivants seront publiés sur le site du projet : https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/research/schoolmentalhealth
Japan’s Voluntary Lockdown
Abtract: Japan’s government has taken a number of measures, including declaring a state of emergency, to combat the spread COVID-19. We examine the mechanisms through which the government’s policies have led to changes in people’s behavior. Using smartphone location data, we construct a daily prefecture-level stay-at-home measure to identify the following two effects: (1) the effect that citizens refrained from going out in line with the government’s request, and (2) the effect that government announcements reinforced awareness with regard to the seriousness of the pandemic and people voluntarily refrained from going out. Our main findings are as follows. First, the declaration of the state of emergency reduced the number of people leaving their homes by 8.6% through the first channel, which is of the same order of magnitude as the estimate by Goolsbee and Syverson (2020) for lockdowns in the United States. Second, a 1% increase in new infections in a prefecture reduces people’s outings in that prefecture by 0.026%. Third, the government’s requests are responsible for about one quarter of the decrease in outings in Tokyo, while the remaining three quarters are the result of information updating on the part of citizens through government announcements and the daily release of the number of infections. Our results suggest that what is necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19 is not strong, legally binding measures but the provision of appropriate information that encourages people to change their behavior.
Tsutomu Watanabe & Tomoyoshi Yabu, 2020. “Japan’s Voluntary Lockdown,” Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 027, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
Parental Well-Being in Times of COVID-19 in Germany
Abstract: We examine the differential effects of Covid-19 and related restrictions on individuals with dependent children in Germany. We specifically focus on the role of school and day care center closures, which may be regarded as a “disruptive exogenous shock” to family life. We make use of a novel representative survey of parental well-being collected in May and June 2020 in Germany, when schools and day care centers were closed but while other measures had been relaxed and new infections were low. In our descriptive analysis, we compare well-being during this period with a pre-crisis period for different groups. In a difference-in-differences design, we compare the change for individuals with children to the change for individuals without children, accounting for unrelated trends as well as potential survey mode and context effects. We find that the crisis lowered the relative well-being of individuals with children, especially for individuals with young children, for women, and for persons with lower secondary schooling qualifications. Our results suggest that public policy measures taken to contain Covid-19 can have large effects on family well-being, with implications for child development and parental labor market outcomes.
Huebener, Mathias, Waights, Sevrin, Spiess, C. Katharina, Siegel, Nico A. and Wagner, Gert, (2020), “Parental Well-Being in Times of COVID-19 in Germany,” No 13556, IZA Discussion Papers, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13556.
Lu sur le Web
Publishing and evaluating success in economics: A new eBook
Presentation: The publication process in economics is characterised by long publication lags and excessive weight given to a very small number of journals, while the profession itself is seen by many as hierarchical, clubby and characterised by gender and racial biases. This column introduces an eBook which takes stock of these issues with a series of short essays focusing on how economists publish their research and measure academic success. While there is much to be proud of about the state of the economics profession, the chapters in the eBook suggest there is still work to be done to make economics more open and inclusive and the publication process fairer and more efficient.
https://voxeu.org/article/publishing-and-evaluating-success-economics-new-ebook
Good Childhood Report 2020
La Children’s Society a publié l’édition 2020 de son rapport annuel sur le bien-être des enfants et des adolescents au Royaume-Uni. Cette édition met en lumière la poursuite de l’érosion du bien-être des enfants, et en particulier au sujet de leurs relations avec leurs amis. Les adolescents britanniques sont ainsi parmi les moins heureux en Europe.
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/good-childhood-report-2020
Hope Mediates the Relation between Income and Subjective Well-Being
Abstract: In this study, we examine whether the positive effect of income gains on subjective well-being (SWB) can in part be explained by the improved future prospects that are generated by a more solid financial situation. Using three-wave panel data from the US, we inspect the relation between changes in income, hope and SWB using a fixed-effects model. Results show that hope indeed partially mediates the relation between income and SWB, but only for monthly incomes over $1800. Positive expectations, on the other hand, mediate the relation for all income levels. From the two components of hope, agency, the belief that we can achieve our goals, seems to be the strongest mediator. We find no indications that extremely high levels of hope or expectations will harm SWB through disappointment.
Pleeging, E., Burger, M. & van Exel, J. “Hope Mediates the Relation between Income and Subjective Well-Being.” J Happiness Stud (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00309-6
The SDGs and human well-being: a global analysis of synergies, trade-offs, and regional differences
Abstract: This paper explores the empirical links between achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and subjective well-being. Globally, we find that in terms of well-being, there are increasing marginal returns to sustainable development. Unpacking the SDGs by looking at how each SDG relates to well-being shows, in most cases, a strong positive correlation. However, SDG12 (responsible production and consumption) and SDG13 (climate action) are negatively correlated with well-being. This suggests that in the short run there may be certain trade-offs to sustainable development, and further heterogeneity is revealed through an analysis of how these relationships play out by region. Variance decomposition methods also suggest large differences in how each SDG contributes to explaining the variance in well-being between countries. These and other empirical insights highlight that more complex and contextualized policy efforts are needed in order to achieve sustainable development while optimising for well-being.
De Neve, J., Sachs, J.D. “The SDGs and human well-being: a global analysis of synergies, trade-offs, and regional differences.” Sci Rep 10, 15113 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71916-9
Wellbeing and cognition are coupled during development: A preregistered longitudinal study of 1137 children and adolescents
Abstract: Wellbeing and cognition are linked in adulthood, but how the two domains interact during development is currently unclear. Using a complex systems approach, we preregistered and modelled the relationship between wellbeing and cognition in a prospective cohort of 1137 children, aged 6 – 7 up to 15 years. We found bidirectional interactions between wellbeing and cognition that unfold dynamically over time. Higher externalizing symptoms in childhood predicted fewer gains in planning over time (estimate = – 0.24, p = .019), whereas higher childhood vocabulary predicted smaller increases in loneliness over time (estimate = -0.62, p = < .001). These interactions were characterized by modifiable risk and resilience factors: Relationships to parents, friendship quality, socioeconomic status and puberty onset were all linked to both cognitive and wellbeing outcomes. As such, cognitive and wellbeing are inextricably intertwined in during development and can be modified by social and biological factors.
Fuhrmann, Delia, Anne-Laura Van Harmelen, and Rogier Kievit. 2020. “Wellbeing and Cognition Are Coupled During Development: A Preregistered Longitudinal Study of 1137 Children and Adolescents.” PsyArXiv. June 25. doi:10.31234/osf.io/y2gbw
Does the Dream of Home Ownership Rest upon Biased Beliefs? A Test Based on Predicted and Realized Life Satisfaction
Abstract: The belief that home ownership makes people happy is probably one of the most widespread intuitive theories of happiness. However, whether it is accurate is an open question. Based on individual panel data, we explore whether home buyers systematically overestimate the life satisfaction associated with living in their privately owned property. To identify potential prediction errors, we compare people’s forecasts of their life satisfaction in five years’ time with their current realizations. We find that, while moving into a purchased dwelling is associated with higher life satisfaction, people systematically overestimate the long-term satisfaction gain. The misprediction therein is driven by people who follow extrinsically-oriented life goals, highlighting biased beliefs regarding own preferences as a relevant mechanism in the prediction errors.
Odermatt, Reto and Stutzer, Alois, (2020), “Does the Dream of Home Ownership Rest upon Biased Beliefs? A Test Based on Predicted and Realized Life Satisfaction,” No 13510, IZA Discussion Papers, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13510.
Climate change complacency in Europe
Abstract: Do our citizens care much about climate change? This column provides evidence that the answer is no. Using data on 70,000 randomly sampled people from the European Social Survey and the Eurobarometer, it shows that people exhibit low levels of worry about climate change, especially in cooler countries, and do not even believe that collective action would work. Climate change is viewed as less important than parochial issues such as inflation, health and social security, unemployment, and the economic situation. It appears our unborn great grandchildren may simply be left to their fate unless we can urgently find innovative ways to change people’s feelings about climate change.
Andrew Oswald, Adam Nowakowski, “Climate change complacency in Europe,”VoxEU, 28 September 2020, https://voxeu.org/article/climate-change-complacency-europe