The empirical determinants of happiness in Brazil

Vol. 26 No. 4 (2006)

Jul-Sep / 2006
Published July 1, 2006
PDF-Portuguese (Português (Brasil))
PDF-Portuguese (Português (Brasil))

How to Cite

Corbi, Raphael Bottura, and Naércio Aquino Menezes-Filho. 2006. “The Empirical Determinants of Happiness in Brazil”. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 26 (4):518-36. https://centrodeeconomiapolitica.org/repojs/index.php/journal/article/view/613.

The empirical determinants of happiness in Brazil

Raphael Bottura Corbi
Universidade de São Paulo
Naércio Aquino Menezes-Filho
bolsista do CNPq, professor do Departamento de Economia da USP e do IBMEC-SP
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 26 No. 4 (2006), Jul-Sep / 2006, Pages 518-536

Abstract

This paper investigates the role that economic variables play in the determination of happiness, using reported happiness as a proxy to individual well-being. We use microdata extracted from the World Values Survey for five countries, emphasizing the Brazilian case. Our findings suggest that there is a positive and significant correlation between happiness and income. Unemployment is also a large source of unhappiness. In most cases, happiness appears to be positively correlated to being married. Moreover, happiness is apparently U-shaped in age (minimizing at 50s).

JEL classification: I31.


Keywords: happiness well-being income unemployment