Abstract

POVEDA BERMUDEZ, Oscar Mauricio. Does Income Influence the Reported Happiness of Populations? The Cases of Colombia, Brazil and Mexico. Econ: teor. práct [online]. 2019, n.50, pp.173-228. ISSN 2448-7481.  https://doi.org/10.24275/etypuam/ne/502019/poveda.

This paper researches the variables that impact the likelihood to report being happy in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico in the period 2010-2014. For this aim, it estimates an ordered logistic model by country where the dependent variable is the reported happiness. The results indicate that income level does not have relevant incidence over reported happiness. Conversely, variables such as civil or health status and number of offspring have a significant influence on the likelihood to be happy. An outstanding fact the Colombian case is the swift growth in the probability of being happy when freedom of choice increases. The Brazilian happiness increases inasmuch as health status soars, whilst Mexican women seem to be slightly happier than males. Finally, the likelihood to report being happy throughout life is U-shaped in Brazil and Mexico.

Keywords : Happiness; Latin America; income level; freedom of choice; health status; age; ordered logit model; I31; D87; C25; J28.

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