Corrado, L. and Aslam, A.

The Geography of Well-Being

Journal of Economic Geography

Vol. 12(3) pp. 627-649 (2012)

Abstract: We consider the economic and non-economic determinants of well-being across Europe and ask what level of geographical aggregation (for example, individual, regional or national) matters for individual well-being and whether the drivers of well-being differ within and between these different levels. Our results show a more heterogenous set of drivers for individual well-being across regions in Europe than previously described. Not only are individual-level effects significant, but so too are regional factors. In particular, absolute regional factors dominate the effect of an individual's position relative to their region for certain non-economic variables. The significance of these non-economic factors changes depending on the sample of countries considered, but in each case the regional effects dominate for those variables that are significant.

Keywords: multilevel modelling regional well-being clustered data group effects non-economic factors

JEL Codes: I31, G10

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Publisher's Link: http://joeg.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/3/627.full