How is life?: Understanding the economics of happiness

March/2019

About the research: 

Does money bring happiness? What are the links between economics and social well-being in Brazil and the world? Is the country a point outside the curve? Beyond the structural aspects captured in global figures, in recent years Brazil has suffered the worst recession in its statistically documented history, offering the opportunity to test those aspects in the extreme Brazilian case: has the quality of life declined to a greater or lesser degree than in other countries? What are Brazilians’ lives like? Why is the nation’s general happiness declining more than its GDP? Is it unemployment, inequality, disillusion with politics, or all those aforementioned alternatives? Who has suffered most from the Brazilian recession - women, rural residents and or the illiterate? Or who of the poor, rich or the so-called new middle class has lost most happiness? These are the questions this study looks to answer. 
Brazil suffered the third largest drop in life satisfaction among 130 countries between 2014 and 2018. This study suggests that the nation's overall happiness decreased in parallel with a great recession reflected not only in higher unemployment but also with disillusionment with politics and rising inequality.   Subjective happiness of Brazilians has dropped more than GDP. Objective indicators of social welfare taking into account not only the growth of people's income, but its distribution, help to explain better this trajectory.


II PESQUISA

SYNTHESIS - Slides
Text
Map
Synthesis Ranking - Interactive Chart
Full Ranking
Happiness Simulator (In portuguese)
Vídeo - Interview 1 (In portuguese)
Vídeo - Presentation (In portuguese) 
Vídeo - Interview 2 (In portuguese)
Vídeo - Interview FGV (In portuguese)

 

See the book "Brazilians' perceptions on public policies"
https://cps.fgv.br/en/featured/brazilians-perceptions-public-policies

And research "Crisis Perceptions"
https://cps.fgv.br/en/research/crisis-perceptions

 


More information: +5521 3799-2320 / fgvsocial@fgv.br

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