Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/101858 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8300
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
well-being
international
happiness
genes
GDP
JEL: 
I30
I31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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