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Are Happier Nations More Responsible? Examining the Link Between Happiness and Sustainability

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Abstract

The paper uses aggregate data from 152 countries to analyze the association between happiness and sustainability. Our paper provides new evidence on happiness and sustainability. Taking a psychological approach, happiness is linked to hedonism and reflects individual perceptions of quality of life and life satisfaction. Sustainability reflects the extent of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals which includes responsible consumption. In order to elucidate the link, the analysis examines separately the association between happiness, consumption, sustainability and responsible behavior. The results document a positive and significant association between them, which remains broadly robust subject to various controls, sensitivity and endogeneity tests. The results contribute to the elucidation of the role of happiness and hedonism for sustainability and stress the complementarity between happy life and good life. While associated with higher consumption, happiness could also lead to more responsible behavior and higher adherence of sustainability considerations. Thus, happy nations may consume more but they also appear to be more responsible towards the society and the environment. Our results challenge the traditional notion that happiness and sustainability go separate ways. These findings signal a number of potential social and political implications including pointing on the importance of happiness to responsible behavior.

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Notes

  1. The terms “green consumption”, “responsible consumption” and “sustainable consumption” are often used loosely and interchangeably in the literature and practice (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strategy, Organization and Entrepreneurship Division, College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Dubai, UAE

    Yomna M. Sameer

  2. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Suzanna Elmassah

  3. Department of Finance, College of Business, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

    Suzanna Elmassah

  4. Department of Finance, College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Dubai, UAE

    Charilaos Mertzanis

  5. Department of Management, Coventry University Branch Campus at TKH Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

    Lujain El-Maghraby

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Appendix: Definition of variables

Appendix: Definition of variables

Variable code

Definition and source

SDGI

The SDG general index, ranging from 0 to 100, from the UN Sustainable Development Report

CONSCAP

The level of consumption per capita (log), from the World Development Indicators, from the World Bank

RECYCLE

The recycling rate, from the What A Waste Global Database, World Bank. It measures the percent of waste annually generated that is recycled in a country

HAPPINESS

The index of life ladder (happiness), from the UN World Happiness Report

HAPPINESS1

The life satisfaction index, from R. Veenhoven (2018) Happiness in Nations, World Database of Happiness, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

GDPCAP

The level of gross domestic product per capita (log), from the World Development Indicators, World Bank. It is considered a measure of economic development of countries

CREDIT

The level of domestic credit to the private sector (% GDP), from the World Development Indicators, World Bank. It is considered a measure of financial development of countries

GINI

The Gini coefficient, from the World Development Indicators, World Bank. It is considered a measure of income inequality of countries

HEALTHEXP

The index of health expectancy at birth (years), from the Health Indicators, World Health Organization. It reflects the overall mortality level of the population of countries

SOCSUP

The index of social support, from the UN World Happiness Report

ETHNFRAC

The measure of ethnic fractionalization in society, ranging from 0 to 1, from Alesina et al. (2003). It reflects the likelihood that two randomly selected persons from a given country will not share the same ethnic origin (ethnic heterogeneity). A higher index reflects a lower probability of common sharing

GEOPOL

The measure of global geopolitical risk, from Caldara and Iacoviello (2018). It is based on the counting of the occurrence of words related to geopolitical tensions in 11 leading international newspapers

DEMQUAL

The index of the quality of democracy, from the UN World Happiness Report

CONTRCORR

The index of control of corruption, from the Worldwide Governance Indicators, World Bank. It measures the effectiveness of policies in combatting corruption

GENDER

The meaure of women’s political empowerment, from the V-Dem dataset, from Michael et al. (2019). Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, version 9. At: https://doi.org/10.23696/vdemcy19

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Sameer, Y.M., Elmassah, S., Mertzanis, C. et al. Are Happier Nations More Responsible? Examining the Link Between Happiness and Sustainability. Soc Indic Res 158, 267–295 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02698-4

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