The determinants of happiness among race groups in South Africa

Ebrahim, Amina; Botha, Ferdi; Snowball, Jeanette D

Title: The determinants of happiness among race groups in South Africa
Creator: Ebrahim, Amina
Creator: Botha, Ferdi
Creator: Snowball, Jeanette D
Date Issued: 2011
Date: 2011
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68589
Identifier: vital:29291
Identifier: http://www.essa2011.org.za/fullpaper/essa2011_2182.pdf
Description: Publisher version
Description: Economic indicators, like GDP per capita, are commonly used as indicators of welfare. However, they have a very limited and narrow scope, excluding many potentially important welfare determinants, such as health, relative income and religion - not surprising since they were not originally designed to fill this role. There is thus growing acceptance, and use of, subjective measure of wellbeing, (called ‘happiness’ measures) both worldwide and in South Africa. Happiness economics does not propose to replace income based measure of wellbeing, but rather attempts to compliment them with broader measures, which can be important in making policy decisions that optimise societal welfare. This paper tests for differences in subjective wellbeing between race groups in South Africa, and investigates the determinants of self-rated life satisfaction (happiness) for each group. Using the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data, descriptive methods (ANOVA) and an ordered probit model are applied. Results indicate that reported happiness differs substantially among race groups, with black South Africans being the least happy group despite changes since the advent of democracy in 1994. Higher levels of educational attainment increase satisfaction for the whole sample, and women are generally less happy than men (particularly black women). As found in many other studies, unemployed people have lower levels of life satisfaction than the employed, even when controlling for income and relative income. The determinants of happiness are also different for each race group: While white South Africans attached greater importance to physical health; employment status and absolute income matter greatly for black people. For coloured people and black people, positional status (as measured by relative income) is an important determinant of happiness, with religious involvement significantly contributing to the happiness of Indian people.
Format: 19 pages
Format: pdf
Publisher: Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA)
Language: English
Relation: Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA)
Relation: Ebrahim, A., Botha, F. and Snowball, J. (2011) The determinants of happiness among race groups in South Africa. Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA), 2182 (1-19)
Relation: Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA) volume 2182 number 1 23 2011
Rights: Copyright held by the Authors
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Snowball, Jeanette D (Prof)

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RU Department of Economics and Economic History

SDG 08. Decent Work and Economic Growth

SDG 01. No Poverty

SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities

SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being

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