Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox
In “Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of Australia,” Blanchflower and Oswald (2005) observe an apparent puzzle: they claim that Australia ranks highly in the Human Development Index (HDI), but relatively poorly in happiness. However, when we compare their happiness data with the...
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Canberra, ACT: Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), The Australian National University
2011
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ftanucanberra:oai:openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au:1885/43248 2024-01-14T10:07:57+01:00 Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox Leigh, Andrew Wolfers, Justin 2011-01-05T08:30:48Z 25 pages application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1885/43248 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/43248/1/DP505.pdf.jpg en_AU eng Canberra, ACT: Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), The Australian National University Discussion Paper (Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), The Australian National University): No. 505 1442-8636 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/43248 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/43248/1/DP505.pdf.jpg Author/s retain copyright Human Development Index life satisfaction Working/Technical Paper 2011 ftanucanberra 2023-12-15T09:38:31Z In “Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of Australia,” Blanchflower and Oswald (2005) observe an apparent puzzle: they claim that Australia ranks highly in the Human Development Index (HDI), but relatively poorly in happiness. However, when we compare their happiness data with the HDI, Australia appears happier, not sadder, than its HDI score would predict. This conclusion also holds when we turn to a larger cross-national dataset than the one used by Blanchflower and Oswald, when we analyse life satisfaction in place of happiness, and when we measure development using GDP per capita in place of the HDI. Indeed, in the World Values Survey, only one other country (Iceland) has a significantly higher level of both life satisfaction and happiness than Australia. Our findings accord with numerous cross-national surveys conducted since the 1940s, which have consistently found that Australians report high levels of wellbeing. Report Iceland Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections |
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Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections |
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ftanucanberra |
language |
English |
topic |
Human Development Index life satisfaction |
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Human Development Index life satisfaction Leigh, Andrew Wolfers, Justin Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox |
topic_facet |
Human Development Index life satisfaction |
description |
In “Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of Australia,” Blanchflower and Oswald (2005) observe an apparent puzzle: they claim that Australia ranks highly in the Human Development Index (HDI), but relatively poorly in happiness. However, when we compare their happiness data with the HDI, Australia appears happier, not sadder, than its HDI score would predict. This conclusion also holds when we turn to a larger cross-national dataset than the one used by Blanchflower and Oswald, when we analyse life satisfaction in place of happiness, and when we measure development using GDP per capita in place of the HDI. Indeed, in the World Values Survey, only one other country (Iceland) has a significantly higher level of both life satisfaction and happiness than Australia. Our findings accord with numerous cross-national surveys conducted since the 1940s, which have consistently found that Australians report high levels of wellbeing. |
format |
Report |
author |
Leigh, Andrew Wolfers, Justin |
author_facet |
Leigh, Andrew Wolfers, Justin |
author_sort |
Leigh, Andrew |
title |
Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox |
title_short |
Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox |
title_full |
Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox |
title_fullStr |
Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox |
title_full_unstemmed |
Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is not a paradox |
title_sort |
happiness and the human development index: australia is not a paradox |
publisher |
Canberra, ACT: Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), The Australian National University |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1885/43248 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/43248/1/DP505.pdf.jpg |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
Discussion Paper (Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), The Australian National University): No. 505 1442-8636 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/43248 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/43248/1/DP505.pdf.jpg |
op_rights |
Author/s retain copyright |
_version_ |
1788062366507728896 |