IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/udc/wpaper/wp398.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Agency, Human Dignity and Subjective Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Hojman
  • Alvaro Miranda

Abstract

In the last decades, our understanding of human well-being and development has shifted from a traditional focus on income and consumption towards a richer multidimensional approach. This shift has been strongly influenced by a body of research in subjective well-being (SWB) and the capabilities approach, which emphasizes the role of freedom and opportunities on well-being. This paper explores the relationship between different measures of subjective well-being and two †hidden dimensions†of development, agency and discrimination. Using statistical techniques that allow to isolate personal traits that could affect both SWB and capabilities perceptions, we document a strong relationship between life satisfaction and agency, comparable to the effect of income variables. Discrimination perceptions seem to affect more job satisfaction than life satisfaction for those who work.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Hojman & Alvaro Miranda, 2015. "Agency, Human Dignity and Subjective Well-Being," Working Papers wp398, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp398
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.uchile.cl/uploads/publicacion/cc5740e4623dd53505ccfd2dc88eaa9f09b8c66f.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim Samuel & Sabina Alkire & Diego Zavaleta & China Mills & John Hammock, 2018. "Social isolation and its relationship to multidimensional poverty," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 83-97, January.
    2. Williams, D.R. & Neighbors, H.W. & Jackson, J.S., 2003. "Racial/ethnic discrimination and health: Findings from community studies," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(2), pages 200-208.
    3. Solava Ibrahim & Sabina Alkire, 2007. "Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 379-403.
    4. Sabina Alkire, 2007. "The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: Introduction to the Special Issue," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 347-359.
    5. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/5l6uh8ogmqildh09h4687h53k is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    7. Alkire, Sabina, 2002. "Dimensions of Human Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 181-205, February.
    8. Oswald, Andrew J. & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2008. "Does happiness adapt? A longitudinal study of disability with implications for economists and judges," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1061-1077, June.
    9. Christian Welzel & Ronald Inglehart, 2010. "Agency, Values, and Well-Being: A Human Development Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 43-63, May.
    10. Maykel Werkuyten & Shervin Nekuee, 1999. "Subjective Well-Being, Discrimination and Cultural Conflict: Iranians Living in The Netherlands," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 281-306, July.
    11. Joseph Stiglitz & Amartya K. Sen & Jean-Paul Fitoussi, 2009. "The measurement of economic performance and social progress revisited: Reflections and Overview," Working Papers hal-01069384, HAL.
    12. Verme, Paolo, 2009. "Happiness, freedom and control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 146-161, August.
    13. Joseph E. Stiglitz & Amartya Sen & Jean-Paul Fitoussi, 2009. "The measurement of economic performance and social progress revisited," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2009-33, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    14. Rachael Diprose, 2007. "Physical Safety and Security: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators of Violence," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 431-458.
    15. Victor, Bart & Fischer, Edward F. & Cooil, Bruce & Vergara, Alfredo & Mukolo, Abraham & Blevins, Meridith, 2013. "Frustrated Freedom: The Effects of Agency and Wealth on Wellbeing in Rural Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 30-41.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5l6uh8ogmqildh09h4687h53k is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    18. Sabina Alkire, 2007. "The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: An Introduction," OPHI Working Papers 0, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    19. Maria Ana Lugo, 2007. "Employment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 361-378.
    20. Emma Samman, 2007. "Psychological and Subjective Well-being: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 459-486.
    21. Gauri, Varun, 2004. "Social Rights and Economics: Claims to Health Care and Education in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 465-477, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hojman, Daniel A. & Miranda, Álvaro, 2018. "Agency, Human Dignity, and Subjective Well-being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-15.
    2. Kim Samuel & Sabina Alkire & Diego Zavaleta & China Mills & John Hammock, 2018. "Social isolation and its relationship to multidimensional poverty," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 83-97, January.
    3. Nadjiarabeye Christian BEASSOUM & Koulké Blandine NAN-GUER & Olivier BEGUY & Tabo Symphorien Ndang & TOPEUR Béguerang, 2011. "Pauvrete Des Capacites Au Tchad: Une Exploration Des Dimensions Manquantes Des Donnees Dans La Capitale N'Djamena," Working Papers PMMA 2011-17, PEP-PMMA.
    4. Sabina Alkire & Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2010-11, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    5. Lessmann, Ortrud, 2012. "Applying the Capability Approach Empirically: An Overview with Special Attention to Labor," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 23(2), pages 98-118.
    6. Kirsten Sehnbruch & Brendan Burchell & Nurjk Agloni & Agnieszka Piasna, 2015. "Human Development and Decent Work: Why some Concepts Succeed and Others Fail to Make an Impact," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(2), pages 197-224, March.
    7. Deniz Sevinc, 2020. "How Poor is Poor? A novel look at multidimensional poverty in the UK," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 833-859, June.
    8. K.I H. Sanjeewanie & Nilakshi De Silva & Shivapragasam Shivakumaran, 2012. "Multi-Dimensional Poverty Among Samurdhi Welfare Recipients In Badulla District, Sri Lanka," Working Papers PMMA 2012-03, PEP-PMMA.
    9. Sachie Mizohata & Raynald Jadoul, 2013. "Towards International and Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration for the Measurements of Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 683-708, May.
    10. Leßmann, Ortrud, 2011. "Empirische Studien zum Capability Ansatz auf der Grundlage von Befragungen: Ein Überblick," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2011, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    11. Jhonatan Clausen & Nicolas Barrantes, 2022. "Developing a Comprehensive Multidimensional Wellbeing Index Based on What People Value: An Application to a Middle-Income Country," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3253-3283, December.
    12. Sehnbruch, Kirsten & González, Pablo & Apablaza, Mauricio & Méndez, Rocío & Arriagada, Verónica, 2020. "The Quality of Employment (QoE) in nine Latin American countries: A multidimensional perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Espinoza-Delgado, José & López-Laborda, Julio, 2017. "Nicaragua: evolución de la pobreza multidimensional, 2001-2009," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    14. Espinoza-Delgado, José & Klasen, Stephan, 2018. "Gender and multidimensional poverty in Nicaragua: An individual based approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 466-491.
    15. Nicolai Suppa, 2018. "Towards a multidimensional poverty index for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 655-683, November.
    16. Trani, Jean-François & Cannings, Tim I., 2013. "Child Poverty in an Emergency and Conflict Context: A Multidimensional Profile and an Identification of the Poorest Children in Western Darfur," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 48-70.
    17. John Ataguba & William M. Fonta & Hyacinth E. Ichoku, 2011. "The Determinants of Multidimensional Poverty in Nsukka, Nigeria," Working Papers PMMA 2011-13, PEP-PMMA.
    18. Alemayehu Azeze Ambel & Harriet Kasidi Mugera & Robert E S Bain, 2020. "Accounting for drinking water quality in measuring multidimensional poverty in Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Veronika V. Eberharter, 2018. "Capability Deprivation, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantages—Empirical Evidence from Selected Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Narasimha D. Rao & Jihoon Min, 2018. "Decent Living Standards: Material Prerequisites for Human Wellbeing," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 225-244, July.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp398. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mohit Karnani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuclcl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.