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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
Size of government
Our Classification
Remarks
Part of Economic Freedom Index (Fraser Institute: Gwartney, Hall, & Lawson, 2011).
Distribution
M=5,659  SD=1,586
Operationalization
A: Government consumption
B: Transfers and subsidies
C: Government enterprises and investment
D: Top marginal tax rate
Da: Top marginal income tax rate
Db: Top marginal income and payroll tax rate

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-HL-u-sq-v-4-a r = +.16 AVERAGE happiness by size of government in 79 nations. O-HL-u-sq-v-4-a b = -.00 O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.04 O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.04 Age below median in country. O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.04 Age above median in country. O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.05 Females only O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.03 Males only O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.05 Lower class only (self rating) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.08 Upper and middle class only (self rating) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = +.04 Left wing only (self rating) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.05 Right wing only (self rating) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.03 Poor nations only (GDP per capita is less than $10,500) (N=58) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = .02 Rich nations only (GDP per capita is more than $10,500) (N=49) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a r = -.00 O-HL-u-sq-v-4-a b = -.00 Poor nations only (GDP per capita is less than $10,500) (N=58) O-HL-u-sq-v-4-a b = -.00 Rich nations only (GDP per capita is more than $10,500) (N=49) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a r = -.03 % VERY HAPPY (top 3 life satisfaction) by size of government in 79 nations. O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.01 O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = -.01 Poor nations only (GDP per capita is less than $10,500) (N=58) O-SLW-c-sq-n-10-a b = +.00 Rich nations only (GDP per capita is more than $10,500) (N=49)

b's control for:
- social trust
- belief in God
- investment price level
- log GDP per capita
- government share as a percentage of GDP
- regional dummies
- period dummies

b's are for autoregressive (1) random effects model. Similar coefficients are obtained for  pooled OLS with robust SE, fixed effects model, and random effects model.