National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration

54 Pages Posted: 12 Jul 2014

See all articles by Eugenio Proto

Eugenio Proto

University of Glasgow; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Andrew J. Oswald

University of Warwick - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

This paper examines a famous puzzle in social science. Why do some nations report such high happiness? Denmark, for instance, regularly tops the league table of rich nations' well-being; Great Britain and the US enter further down; France and Italy do relatively poorly. Yet the explanation for this ranking – one that holds even after adjustment for GDP and socio-economic and cultural variables – remains unknown. We explore a new avenue. Using data on 131 countries, we document a range of evidence consistent with the hypothesis that certain nations may have a genetic advantage in well-being.

Keywords: well-being, international, happiness, genes, GDP

JEL Classification: I30, I31

Suggested Citation

Proto, Eugenio and Proto, Eugenio and Oswald, Andrew J., National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8300, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2465335 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2465335

Eugenio Proto (Contact Author)

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Andrew J. Oswald

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