The "Efficiency" Effect of Conceptual Referents on the Generation of Happiness: A Cross-National Analysis
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The "Efficiency" Effect of Conceptual Referents on the Generation of Happiness: A Cross‑National Analysis Atilano Pena‑López1 · Paolo Rungo1 · Beatriz López‑Bermúdez1 Accepted: 12 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This paper analyses how different definitions of happiness affect the individual assessment of subjective wellbeing. Bearing in mind the production theory, we study the impact of definitions of happiness on how efficiently a set of determinants are used and converted into happiness. From a theoretical point of view, we discuss the role of the Conceptual Referent Theory within the affective-cognitive process of personal evaluation of happiness. We use data from the Understanding High Happiness in Latin America survey (2018), which includes a sample of people from Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA, to investigate how happiness conceptual referents influence personal assessment using Stochastic Frontier Analysis. This method permits to assess the impact of different definitions of happiness on how a set of standard drivers like income and social relations are used and converted into perceived happiness. To this end, conceptual referents for happiness are treated as (in)efficiency factors. This study shows that the concept of happiness shapes how individuals value the same inputs. “Stoicism”, “virtue” and “enjoyment” emerge as the most efficient referents. Also, we observe that cross-country differences in the level of perceived happiness are associated with differences in the prevalence of conceptual referents. In the USA, where less efficient definitions prevail, people report lower levels of happiness. Keywords Happiness · Conceptual referent theory · Happiness definitions · Stochastic frontier analysis · Happiness efficiency
* Atilano Pena‑López [email protected] Paolo Rungo [email protected] Beatriz López‑Bermúdez [email protected] 1
Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business Campus de Elviña, Universidade da Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
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1 Introduction The term happiness is sometimes employed to describe the good life in a broad sense. As such, it may mistakenly be accepted as a synonym of quality of life or wellbeing. However, happiness is, more precisely, the subjective appreciation of the wellbeing, that is, the degree by which people introspectively judge the quality of their life as a whole (Veenhoven 1984). This definition makes the assessment of happiness possible, though it implies a complex weighting of external conditions and subjective determinants. Although these determinates have been shown to be analogous and comparable across people (Graham 2009; Helliwell and Barrington-Leigh 2010), each person may adopt a specific definition of happiness, which, in turn, affect the subjective appreciation of the same experiences and personal circumstances. That is, the very notion of happiness may influence the possibility to obtain happiness from similar attributes or external conditions. Therefor
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