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Did the Decline in Social Capital Decrease American Happiness? A Relational Explanation of the Happiness Paradox
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TL;DR: The authors showed that the inclusion of social capital does improve the account of reported happiness and provided evidence of a decline in social capital indicators for the period 1975-2004, confirming Putnam's claim.
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Abstract: Most popular explanations of the happiness paradox cannot fully account for the lack of growth in US reported well-being during the last thirty years (Blanchflower and Oswald (2004)) In this paper we test an alternative hypothesis, namely that the decline in US social capital is responsible for what is left unexplained by previous research We provide three main findings First, we show that the inclusion of social capital does improve the account of reported happiness Second, we provide evidence of a decline in social capital indicators for the period 1975-2004, confirming Putnam's claim (Putnam (2000)) Finally, we show that failed growth of happiness is largely due to the decline of social capital and, in particular, to the decline of its relational and intrinsically motivated component
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Citations
Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community
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References
•Book
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
Robert D. Putnam
- 01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Putnam as mentioned in this paper showed that changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women's roles and other factors are isolating Americans from each other in a trend whose reflection can clearly be seen in British society.
28.3K
Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community
TL;DR: As an example of how the current "war on terrorism" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says "permanently marked" the generation that lived through it and had a "terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century."
5.4K
Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence
Richard A. Easterlin
- 01 Jan 1974
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the association of income and happiness and suggest a Duesenberry-type model, involving relative status considerations as an important determinant of happiness.
5.1K
Effects of Externally Mediated Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation.
TL;DR: Vroom et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated the effects of external rewards on intrinsic motivation to perform an activity and found that when money was used as an external reward, intrinsic motivation tended to decrease, whereas when verbal reinforcement and positive feedback were used to increase.
4.4K
•Journal Article
The Theory Of The Leisure Class
TL;DR: The Pecuniary standard of living is defined in this paper as "conspicuous leisure, conspicuous consumption, and higher learning as an expression of the pecuniary culture".
4.2K