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oes Cooperativeness Promote Happiness? Cross-country Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Luigino Bruni

    (LUMSA, Sophia, CERBE)

  • Giovanni Ferri

    (LUMSA, CERBE, MoFiR)

Abstract
Why is the share of happy people higher in some countries than in their equally developed neighbors? We conjecture that the apparent contradiction might depend on a country's endowment of relational goods, which we proxy empirically with the extent of cooperativeness. Compiling an index of the importance of the cooperative sector, we test whether higher values of the index associate with more happiness controlling for countries' HDI and other control variables. Checking for endogeneity, we find support for our hypothesis and that support is stronger for more developed countries. This suggests that, indeed, relational goods might help tackle Easterlin's paradox.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigino Bruni & Giovanni Ferri, 2015. "oes Cooperativeness Promote Happiness? Cross-country Evidence," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 107, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wmofir:107
    as

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    File URL: http://docs.dises.univpm.it/web/quaderni/pdfmofir/Mofir107.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3gpul0a2209cuatfpgqv8qt14j is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Joseph Stiglitz & Jean-Paul Fitoussi & Martine Durand, 2018. "For Good Measure," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03393118, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cross-country evidence; Extent of the cooperative sector; Happiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • P13 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Cooperative Enterprises

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