Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa
Using an extraordinarily rich panel dataset from Ghana, this paper explores the nature of self-employment and informality in developing countries through the analysis of self-reported happiness with work and life. Subjective job satisfaction measur...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/10/16840577/heterogeneity-subjective-wellbeing-application-occupational-allocation-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12074 |
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okr-10986-120742021-04-23T14:02:59Z Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa Falco, Paolo Maloney, William F. Rijkers, Bob Sarrias, Mauricio ACCOUNTING ATTRITION AVERAGE WAGES CLERICAL WORKERS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISGUISED UNEMPLOYMENT DRIVERS EARNING EARNINGS PROSPECTS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT STATUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ESTIMATED PARAMETERS FIRING FIRM SIZE FORMAL SECTOR WAGE FORMAL SECTOR WORKERS HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD WEALTH HUMAN CAPITAL INFORMAL ECONOMY INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT INFORMAL LABOR MARKETS INFORMAL SECTOR JOB CHARACTERISTICS JOB SATISFACTION JOB STATUS JOB TENURE JOBS LABOR COMPENSATION LABOR DEMAND LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCE LABOR MARKET INDICATORS LABOR MARKET PARTICIPANTS LABOR MARKETS LABORERS LABOUR LABOUR MARKET MANUAL LABOR OCCUPATION PRESENT ANALYSIS PREVIOUS RESULTS PREVIOUS SECTION PRIMARY CAUSE PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PROFESSIONS PSE PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS RETIREMENT SALARIED EMPLOYMENT SALARIED WORKERS SELFEMPLOYMENT SMALL BUSINESSES TURNOVER UNEMPLOYED UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATES UNPAID WORKERS URBAN EMPLOYMENT WAGE DIFFERENTIALS WAGE EMPLOYMENT WAGE PREMIUM WORK IN PROGRESS WORK SATISFACTION WORKER WORKERS WORKING WORKING HOURS WORKPLACE Using an extraordinarily rich panel dataset from Ghana, this paper explores the nature of self-employment and informality in developing countries through the analysis of self-reported happiness with work and life. Subjective job satisfaction measures allow assessment of the relative desirability of different jobs in ways that, conditional wage comparisons cannot. By exploiting recent advances in mixed (random parameter) ordered probit models, the distribution of subjective well-being across sectors of employment is quantified. There is little evidence for the overall inferiority of the small firm informal sector: there is not a robust average satisfaction premium for formal work vs. self-employment or informal salaried work, and owners of informal firms that employ others are on average significantly happier than workers in the formal private sector. Moreover, the estimated distribution of parameters predicting satisfaction reveal substantial heterogeneity in subjective well-being within sectors that conventional fixed parameter models, such as standard ordered probit models, cannot detect: Whatever the average satisfaction premium in a sector, all job categories contain both relatively happy and disgruntled workers. Specifically, roughly 67, 50, 40 and 59 percent prefer being a small-firm employer, sole proprietor, informal salaried, civic worker respectively, than formal work. Hence, there is a high degree of overlap in the distribution of satisfaction across sectors. The results are robust to the inclusion of fixed effects and alternate measures of satisfaction. Job characteristics, self-perceived autonomy and experimentally elicited measures of attitudes toward risk do not appear to explain these distributional patterns. 2013-01-03T22:32:12Z 2013-01-03T22:32:12Z 2012-10 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/10/16840577/heterogeneity-subjective-wellbeing-application-occupational-allocation-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12074 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6244 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Middle East and North Africa Africa |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCOUNTING ATTRITION AVERAGE WAGES CLERICAL WORKERS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISGUISED UNEMPLOYMENT DRIVERS EARNING EARNINGS PROSPECTS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT STATUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ESTIMATED PARAMETERS FIRING FIRM SIZE FORMAL SECTOR WAGE FORMAL SECTOR WORKERS HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD WEALTH HUMAN CAPITAL INFORMAL ECONOMY INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT INFORMAL LABOR MARKETS INFORMAL SECTOR JOB CHARACTERISTICS JOB SATISFACTION JOB STATUS JOB TENURE JOBS LABOR COMPENSATION LABOR DEMAND LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCE LABOR MARKET INDICATORS LABOR MARKET PARTICIPANTS LABOR MARKETS LABORERS LABOUR LABOUR MARKET MANUAL LABOR OCCUPATION PRESENT ANALYSIS PREVIOUS RESULTS PREVIOUS SECTION PRIMARY CAUSE PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PROFESSIONS PSE PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS RETIREMENT SALARIED EMPLOYMENT SALARIED WORKERS SELFEMPLOYMENT SMALL BUSINESSES TURNOVER UNEMPLOYED UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATES UNPAID WORKERS URBAN EMPLOYMENT WAGE DIFFERENTIALS WAGE EMPLOYMENT WAGE PREMIUM WORK IN PROGRESS WORK SATISFACTION WORKER WORKERS WORKING WORKING HOURS WORKPLACE |
| spellingShingle |
ACCOUNTING ATTRITION AVERAGE WAGES CLERICAL WORKERS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DISGUISED UNEMPLOYMENT DRIVERS EARNING EARNINGS PROSPECTS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT STATUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP ESTIMATED PARAMETERS FIRING FIRM SIZE FORMAL SECTOR WAGE FORMAL SECTOR WORKERS HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD WEALTH HUMAN CAPITAL INFORMAL ECONOMY INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT INFORMAL LABOR MARKETS INFORMAL SECTOR JOB CHARACTERISTICS JOB SATISFACTION JOB STATUS JOB TENURE JOBS LABOR COMPENSATION LABOR DEMAND LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET EXPERIENCE LABOR MARKET INDICATORS LABOR MARKET PARTICIPANTS LABOR MARKETS LABORERS LABOUR LABOUR MARKET MANUAL LABOR OCCUPATION PRESENT ANALYSIS PREVIOUS RESULTS PREVIOUS SECTION PRIMARY CAUSE PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PROFESSIONS PSE PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS RETIREMENT SALARIED EMPLOYMENT SALARIED WORKERS SELFEMPLOYMENT SMALL BUSINESSES TURNOVER UNEMPLOYED UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATES UNPAID WORKERS URBAN EMPLOYMENT WAGE DIFFERENTIALS WAGE EMPLOYMENT WAGE PREMIUM WORK IN PROGRESS WORK SATISFACTION WORKER WORKERS WORKING WORKING HOURS WORKPLACE Falco, Paolo Maloney, William F. Rijkers, Bob Sarrias, Mauricio Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa |
| geographic_facet |
Middle East and North Africa Africa |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6244 |
| description |
Using an extraordinarily rich panel
dataset from Ghana, this paper explores the nature of
self-employment and informality in developing countries
through the analysis of self-reported happiness with work
and life. Subjective job satisfaction measures allow
assessment of the relative desirability of different jobs in
ways that, conditional wage comparisons cannot. By
exploiting recent advances in mixed (random parameter)
ordered probit models, the distribution of subjective
well-being across sectors of employment is quantified. There
is little evidence for the overall inferiority of the small
firm informal sector: there is not a robust average
satisfaction premium for formal work vs. self-employment or
informal salaried work, and owners of informal firms that
employ others are on average significantly happier than
workers in the formal private sector. Moreover, the
estimated distribution of parameters predicting satisfaction
reveal substantial heterogeneity in subjective well-being
within sectors that conventional fixed parameter models,
such as standard ordered probit models, cannot detect:
Whatever the average satisfaction premium in a sector, all
job categories contain both relatively happy and disgruntled
workers. Specifically, roughly 67, 50, 40 and 59 percent
prefer being a small-firm employer, sole proprietor,
informal salaried, civic worker respectively, than formal
work. Hence, there is a high degree of overlap in the
distribution of satisfaction across sectors. The results are
robust to the inclusion of fixed effects and alternate
measures of satisfaction. Job characteristics,
self-perceived autonomy and experimentally elicited measures
of attitudes toward risk do not appear to explain these
distributional patterns. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Falco, Paolo Maloney, William F. Rijkers, Bob Sarrias, Mauricio |
| author_facet |
Falco, Paolo Maloney, William F. Rijkers, Bob Sarrias, Mauricio |
| author_sort |
Falco, Paolo |
| title |
Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa |
| title_short |
Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa |
| title_full |
Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa |
| title_fullStr |
Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Heterogeneity in Subjective Wellbeing : An Application to Occupational Allocation in Africa |
| title_sort |
heterogeneity in subjective wellbeing : an application to occupational allocation in africa |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/10/16840577/heterogeneity-subjective-wellbeing-application-occupational-allocation-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12074 |
| _version_ |
1764418931980763136 |