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Weather and Individual Happiness

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  • Yoshiro Tsutsui

    (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University)

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of weather on happiness. While previous studies have examined climatic influence by comparing the well-being of people living in different regions, this paper focuses on how daily changes in weather affect individuals living in a single location. Our data set consists of 516 days of data on 75 students from Osaka University. Daily information on outside events, as well as the daily physical condition and individual characteristics of the respondents, are used as controls. Subjective happiness is negatively related to temperature and humidity. In a quadratic model, happiness is maximized at 13.9 degrees Celsius. The effects of other meteorological variables \wind speed and precipitation \are not significant. The sensitivity of happiness to temperature also depends on attributes such as sex, age, and academic department. Happiness is more strongly affected by current weather conditions than average weather over the day. While sadness and depression (negative affect) are affected by weather in a similar way to happiness, enjoyment (positive affect) behaves somewhat differently.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoshiro Tsutsui, 2011. "Weather and Individual Happiness," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 11-01-Rev, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics, revised Mar 2012.
    • Handle: RePEc:osk:wpaper:1101r
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    File URL: http://www2.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/global/dp/1101R.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    happiness; weather; daily web survey; Osaka region;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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