{"title":"The Impact of Governance on Happiness: Evidence from Quantile Regressions","authors":"Chiung-Ju Huang","volume":115,"journal":"International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering","pagesStart":2539,"pagesEnd":2543,"ISSN":"1307-6892","URL":"https:\/\/publications.waset.org\/pdf\/10005600","abstract":"
This study utilizes the quantile regression analysis to examine the impact of governance (including democratic quality and technical quality) on happiness in 101 countries worldwide, classified as “developed countries” and “developing countries”. The empirical results show that the impact of democratic quality and technical quality on happiness is significantly positive for “developed countries”, while is insignificant for “developing countries”. The results suggest that the authorities in developed countries can enhance the level of individual happiness by means of improving the democracy quality and technical quality. However, for developing countries, promoting the quality of governance in order to enhance the level of happiness may not be effective. Policy makers in developed countries may pay more attention on increasing real GDP per capita instead of promoting the quality of governance to enhance individual happiness.<\/p>\r\n","references":"[1]\tGNH Centre Bhutan, The Story of GNH, Retrieved from: www.gnhcentrebhutan.org\/what-is-gnh\/the-story-of-gnh\/\r\n[2]\tR. Boarini, \u201cThe OECD Better Life Initiative,\u201d The Statistics Newsletter \u2013 OECD, no. 52, pp. 14-43, 2011.\r\n[3]\tJ. Helliwe, First World Happiness Report Launched at the United Nations, The Earth Institution Columbia University, 2012, Retrieved from: http:\/\/www.earth.columbia.edu\/articles\/view\/2960\r\n[4]\tJ. F. Helliwell, H. Huang and S. Wang, \u201cThe geography of world happiness,\u201d in World Happiness Report 2015, J. Helliwell, R. Layard and J. Sachs Ed., pp. 14-43, 2015.\r\n[5]\tG. W. Scully, \u201cThe institutional framework and economic development,\u201d Journal of Political Economics, vo1. 96, no. 3, pp. 652-662, 1988.\r\n[6]\tJ. Sachs and A. Warner, \u201cNatural resource abundance and economic growth,\u201d National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No.5398, 1995.\r\n[7]\tD. Rodrik, \u201cTFPG Controversies, institutions and economic performance in East Asia,\u201d NBER Working Paper, No. 5914, 1997.\r\n[8]\tR. E. Hall and C. I. Jones, \u201cWhy do some countries produce so much more output per worker than others?\u201d Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 114, no. 1, pp. 83-116, 1999.\r\n[9]\tD. Kaufmann, A. Kraay, and P. Zoido, \u201cGovernance matters,\u201d World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No. 2196, 1999.\r\n[10]\tS.-J. Wei, \u201cNegative alchemy? Corruption and composition of capital flows,\u201d OECD Technical Paper, No.165, 2000.\r\n[11]\tD. Acemoglu, S. Johnson, and J. Robinson, \u201cThe colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation,\u201d American Economic Review, vol. 91, no. 5, pp. 1369-1401, 2001.\r\n[12]\tH. L. F De Groot, G. J. Linders, P. Rietveld, and U. Subramanian, \u201cThe institutional determinants of bilateral trade patterns,\u201d Kykios, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 103-123, 2004.\r\n[13]\tR. Rigobon and D. Rodrik, \u201cRule of law, democracy, openness and income: Estimating the interrelationships,\u201d Economics of Transition, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 533-564, 2005.\r\n[14]\tH. Jalilian, C. Kirkpatrick, and D. Parker, \u201cThe impact of regulation on economic growth in developing countries: a cross-country analysis,\u201d World Development, vol. 35, pp. 87-103, 2006.\r\n[15]\tE. N. Gamber and A. K. S. Scott \u201cA threshold analysis of the relationship between governance and growth,\u201d International Economic Journal, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 255-278, 2007.\r\n[16]\tV. C. Arusha, \u201cGovernment expenditure, governance and economic growth,\u201d Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 401-18, 2009.\r\n[17]\tA. Y. Evrensel, \u201cCorruption, growth, and growth volatility,\u201d International Review of Economics and Finance, vol. 19, pp. 501-514, 2010\r\n[18]\tM.-P. Mar\u0131\u00b4a-Teresa, M.-A. Galindo-Mart\u0131\u00b4nb, and D. Ribeiro-Sorianoc, \u201cGovernance, entrepreneurship and economic growth,\u201d Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, vol. 24, pp. 865-877, 2012.\r\n[19]\tJ. C Ott, \u201cGovernment and happiness in 130 nations: Good governance fosters higher level and more equality of happiness,\u201d Social Indicators Research, vol. 102, no. 1, pp. 3-22, 2011.\r\n[20]\tR. Veenhoven, World database of happiness. Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2010. Retrieved from: http:\/\/worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl.\r\n[21]\tJ. Helliwell and H. Huang, \u201cHow\u2019s your government? International evidence linking good government and well-being,\u201d British Journal of Political Science, vol. 38, pp. 595\u2013619, 2008.\r\n[22]\tR. Koenker and G. S. Bassett, \u201cRegression quantiles,\u201d Econometrica, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 33-50, 1978.","publisher":"World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology","index":"Open Science Index 115, 2016"}