National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration

Eugenio Proto and Andrew Oswald

No 8300, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines a famous puzzle in social science. Why do some nations report such high happiness? Denmark, for instance, regularly tops the league table of rich nations' well-being; Great Britain and the US enter further down; France and Italy do relatively poorly. Yet the explanation for this ranking – one that holds even after adjustment for GDP and socio-economic and cultural variables – remains unknown. We explore a new avenue. Using data on 131 countries, we document a range of evidence consistent with the hypothesis that certain nations may have a genetic advantage in well-being.

Keywords: genes; well-being; international; happiness; GDP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I30 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2014-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-gro, nep-hap, nep-hpe and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Economic Journal, 2017, 127 (604), 2127-2152

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp8300.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration (2017)
Working Paper: National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration (2016)
Working Paper: National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration (2016)
Working Paper: National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration (2016)
Working Paper: National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration (2015)
Working Paper: National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration (2014)
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