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Correlational findings

Study Gehring (2013): study ZZ World samples 1981

Public
18+ aged, 79 countries, 1981-2007
Survey name
INT-WorldValuesSurv 1-5
Sample
Respondents
N = 200000
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Correlate

Authors's Label
Government share in % of GDP
Our Classification
Distribution
M=17,015  SD=7,016
Related specification variables
Operationalization

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-HL-u-sq-v-4-a r = -.45 AVERAGE happiness by government share (% of GDP) in 79 nations. O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a r = -.45 O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.02 p < .01 b controls for:
- social trust
- belief in God
- investment price level
- log GDP per capita
- government share (% of GDP)
- regional dummies
- period dummies O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.02 p < .05 b additionally controls for:
- economic freedom

Similar coefficients are obtained for a fixed effects model, random effects model, and an autoregressive (1) random effects model. O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a r = -.43 % VERY HAPPY (top 3 life satisfaction) by government share (% of GDP) in 79 nations. O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.00 p < .01