Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/34581
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2633
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A modern statistical literature argues that countries such as Denmark are particularly happy while nations like East Germany are not. Are such claims credible? The paper explores this by building on two ideas. The first is that psychological well-being and high blood-pressure are thought by clinicians to be inversely correlated. The second is that blood-pressure problems can be reported more objectively than mental well-being. Using data on 16 countries, the paper finds that happier nations report lower levels of hypertension. The paper's results are consistent with, and seem to offer a step towards the validation of, cross-national estimates of well-being.
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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