Governance and Happiness in African countries

Njangang, Henri (2019): Governance and Happiness in African countries. Forthcoming in: Economics Bulletin

Abstract

Using Ordinary Least Squares and the Generalized Method of Moments techniques, this paper analyses the effect of governance on happiness in a panel of 31 African countries over the period 2006-2017. We find that governance quality improves happiness.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Governance, Happiness, Africa
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D73 - Bureaucracy ; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations ; Corruption; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa

References

Alam, M. R., Kiterage, E., and Bizuayehu, B. (2017). Government effectiveness and economic growth. Economic Bulletin, 37(1):222–227.

Arellano, M. and Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. The review of economic studies, 58(2):277–297.

Arellano, M. and Bover, O. (1995). Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models. Journal of econometrics, 68(1):29–51.

Bjørnskov, C., Dreher, A., and Fischer, J. A. (2010). Formal institutions and subjective well-being: Revisiting the cross-country evidence. European Journal of Political Economy, 26(4):419–430.

Blundell, R. and Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of econometrics, 87(1):115–143.

Bond, S. R., Hoeffler, A., and Temple, J. R. (2001). Gmm estimation of empirical growth models.

Bozec, R., Dia, M., and Bozec, Y. (2010). Governance–performance relationship: a re- examination using technical efficiency measures. British Journal of Management, 21(3):684– 700.

Dolan, P., Peasgood, T., and White, M. (2008). Do we really know what makes us happy? a review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being. Journal of economic psychology, 29(1):94–122.

Frey, B. S. and Stutzer, A. (2002). The economics of happiness. World Economics, 3:25–41.

Frey, B. S. and Stutzer, A. (2005). Beyond outcomes: measuring procedural utility. Oxford Economic Papers, 57(1):90–111.

Gani, A. (2007). Governance and foreign direct investment links: evidence from panel data estimations. Applied economics letters, 14(10):753–756.

Helliwell, J. F. and Huang, H. (2008). How’s your government? international evidence linking good government and well-being. British Journal of Political Science, 38(4):595–619.

Helliwell, J. F., Huang, H., Grover, S., and Wang, S. (2018). Empirical linkages between good governance and national well-being. Journal of Comparative Economics, 46(4):1332–1346.

Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., and Mastruzzi, M. (2008). Governance matters VII: aggregate and indi- vidual governance indicators 1996-2007. The World Bank.

Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., and Mastruzzi, M. (2010). Response to ‘what do the worldwide governance indicators measure?’. The European Journal of Development Research, 22(1):55– 58.

Law, S. H. and Azman-Saini, W. (2012). Institutional quality, governance, and financial devel- opment. Economics of Governance, 13(3):217–236.

Levchenko, A. A. (2007). Institutional quality and international trade. The Review of Economic Studies, 74(3):791–819.

OECD (2011). How’s life? measuring well-being.

Ott, J. (2013). Greater happiness for a greater number: Some non-controversial options for governments. In The Exploration of Happiness, pages 321–340. Springer.

Ott, J. C. (2010). Good governance and happiness in nations: Technical quality precedes democ- racy and quality beats size. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(3):353–368.

Ott, J. C. (2011). Government and happiness in 130 nations: Good governance fosters higher level and more equality of happiness. Social indicators research, 102(1):3–22.

Roodman, D. (2009). How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system gmm in stata. The Stata Journal, 9(1):86–136.

Veenhoven, R. (1999). Quality-of-life in individualistic society. Social indicators research, 48(2):159–188.

Wolfers, J. (2003). Is business cycle volatility costly? evidence from surveys of subjective well- being. International finance, 6(1):1–26.

Wu, X. and Li, J. (2017). Income inequality, economic growth, and subjective well-being: Evi- dence from china. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 52:49–58.