Third webinar of the series: Measuring people's perceptions, evaluations and experiences, 29 September 2020, More information at: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/lac-well-being-metrics.htm

1. Subjective Well-Being in Latin America
Mariano Rojas

2. Outline
What is it that we aim to measure?
◦ Conceptual issues
Measurement issues
◦ Useful information
SWB in LA
◦ High levels, on average
◦ LA problems on SWB
◦ Some drivers have been neglected
It important to keep track of SWB information
◦ Public and private policy
◦ Development strategy

3. Well-being and
its conception
The experience of being well people have
◦ It is not an academic construct
◦ It is part of human condition
◦ Evolutionary perspective
Concrete human beings –of flesh and blood-
◦ much more than mere consumers
◦ The well-being of a concrete person, not of a consumer
◦ How do people experience well-being?
◦ Violeta Parra

4. The experiences of being well
Gracias a la Vida for experiences like
“dos luceros que cuando los abro Perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco”
“el sonido y el abecedario Con él las palabras que pienso y declaro”,
“La ruta del alma del que estoy amando”
“el corazón que agita su marco Cuando miro el fruto del cerebro humano”
“Madre amigo hermano”
“Me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto, Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto”
Experiences of being well which are familiar to all human beings

5. The experience of being well
Essential experiences
◦ Evaluative
◦ Achievements and failures
◦ Aspirations, goals, norms of evaluation
◦ Role of social context, comparisons
◦ Affective
◦ Emotions and moods
◦ Events triggering emotions
◦ Evolution and role of affects
◦ Sensory
◦ Pain and pleasure
◦ Human condition
Synthesis
◦ Overall assessment
◦ Life is going well
◦ I am OK
◦ I am satisfied with life
◦ I have a happy life
◦ Partial assessments. Domains of life
◦ Family satisfaction
◦ Economic satisfaction
◦ Working satisfaction
◦ Health satisfaction
◦ Friendship satisfaction
◦ So on

6. The experience
of being well
Inherently subjective
◦ Happens to persons and in persons, not in the objects
◦ Life trajectory, nurturing, values, context, personality
◦ Not a perception of an ‘objective situation’
◦ Influenced by many personal and contextual factors
◦ We want to know and to study this subjective experience
◦ It is important to human beings
◦ As a final aim
◦ As intrinsic motivation

7. Knowing the
experience of
being well
◦ Problems when approaching the experience with
objective indicators
◦ The relationship with objective indicators is not straightforward
◦ Complex, non-homogeneous, neglected factors, weights
◦ Theory is involved in the interpretation of the association
◦ Uncorroborated, simplified, disciplinary, common source bias
◦ Objective indicators
◦ Reported vs. observed or inferred by a third party
◦ Well-known problems
◦ Measurement problems, Survey problems
◦ Recommendation
◦ If the phenomenon is subjective use subjective indicators, if the phenomenon is
objective use objective indicators

8. Subjective well-being approach
• People as the authority, in a privileged situation to judge their life
• Procedural utility, empowerment and engagement
Asking people directly about
their experience of being well
• Third persons assessments
• Inference based on sets of objective indicators
• Theoretical and mental frameworks
Allows avoiding biases and
limitations of other
approaches
• Well-known survey-based problems, common to many approaches
• Measurement scales, phrasing of questions
• Special population segments: i.e. children
Facing new measurement
challenges

9. Research, Measurement
and Policy
Academic
• Fifty years of empirical research
• Interdisciplinary research
• Exponential growth during the past 20 years
• Debate, discussion, corroboration
Incorporation by NSO
• Measuring the progress of societies
• OECD’s guidelines
• Stiglitz Commission
• INEGI-Mexico BIARE
Policy and Development
• World Happiness Council
• Experiences in public policy
• Experiences in private policy
• Couching
• Development, new notions of progress

10. Useful and
new
information
Correlations
Country-level, Latin America 2007
Incomepc HDI
Life
Satisfaction
Life
Evaluation
HDI 0.91
Life Satisfaction 0.24 0.22
Life Evaluation 0.52 0.54 0.82
Affective State 0.14 0.18 0.61 0.38
Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay.
HDI: Human Development Index
Source: Gallup 2007, PNUD, ECLAC

11. Relevance of
Subjective Well-
Being
Social and political unrest
◦ Egypt and Tunisia
Electoral results
◦ Latin America
◦ Other countries in the world
Human behavior
◦ Job quitting
◦ Migration
◦ Divorce
◦ Family-firm owners

12. Research on
income and SWB
Cross-section relationship
◦ Positive, logarithmic association
◦ Low R2
◦ Role of status and social comparisons
Time series relationship
◦ Flat relationship
◦ Fallacy of composition
Chile: flat
Perú: Increase in life satisfaction

13. There is more to
life than income

14. "Being rich doesn't change your experience in the way you
think. The only difference basically is that you don't have to
worry about money - food - roof - etc, but all other
experiences - emotions - relationships - are the same as
anybody's"

15. Evolution of life
evaluation
◦ Life evaluation: Best possible life
◦ Venezuela
◦ Peru

16. Evolution of affective
state
◦ Venezuela
◦ Decline in Latin American ranking
◦ Decline in positive affect
◦ Substantial increase in negative affect

17. High subjective
well-being in LA
Large percentage of the population
report high life satisfaction
World Value Survey, wave 6 (2010-
2014), scale 1 to 10.

18. Apparent paradox
High happiness and many problems
◦ Violence, crime, corruption, bribery rates, income inequality, so on
Distinguish between
◦ Level and impact
◦ Mean and specific groups
Paradoxes do not exist, only wrong theories

19. Problems: They reduce SWB
Econometric analyses
Life satisfaction: 1 to 4
Latin America
Latinobarometer 2013

20. High subjective
well-being in LA
Outstandingly high positive
affect
Violeta Parra

21. Relationships in Latin America
Family, Friends
Quantity and quality of human relations
2018 Survey
◦ Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and United States (White
non-hispanic)

22. Better relations vs
More income
-11.4
-8.9
-12.3
-11.5
-5.1
-6.6
-5.7
-2.9
-4.9
-7.2
-14
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
Sadness Anger Anxiety worry Loneliness Fear
Gradients in Negative Emotions between the non-poor
and the extreme poor
by poverty conception, Latin American countries
Relational-poverty gradient Income-poverty gradient

23. Better relations vs
More income
19.9
25.5
16.9
33.3
22.9
0.3 0
6.5
1.1
6.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Enthusiasm Joy Tranquility Love or
affection
Gratitude
Gradients in Positive Emotions between the non-poor
and the extreme poor
by poverty conception, Latin American countries
Relational-poverty gradient Income-poverty gradient

24. Warm and close
interpersonal
relations
Significant for SWB: LS, BPL, SWLS,
Happ, +Aff, -Aff
37.8
64.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
W-USA LA
"Interpersonal relations in this society are warm and close"
% agree or strongly agree

25. Instrumentalization
of others
Significant for SWB: LS, BPL, SWLS,
Happ, +Aff, -Aff
Dominance, objectification
49
40
75
61
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
OK to make friends just because you know
they can be useful
OK to get along with neighbors just
because you know they can be useful
Instrumentalization of others
percentage who disagree or strongly disagree

26. Relations in nuclear family: Quality
1. Manifestations of affection with your partner
2. Manifestations of affection with your children
3. Everyone’sdecisions are respected in the
family
4. Taking into considerationthe well-being of
my family when making important decisions
5. Being with the family gives the most meaning
to my life
6. Doing joint activities –such as reading or
playing sports- with children
7. Helping and supporting each other in the
family.
77.3
86.7
89.2 88.7
93.6
84.6 86
64.9
62.8
70.1
66.1
79.8
90.4
66.7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Relational Wealth: Nuclear Family
Quality of interpersonal relations, percentages
Latin America White-USA

27. Relationsin nuclearfamily: Quantity
1. Sharing positive emotions with close family
2. We in the family spend a lot of time doing
things together
3. Taking time to share with partner
4. Taking time to share with children
5. Sharing at least one meal a day with children
6. Taking time to share with adult children
64.6
76.4
80.4
75.9
95.1
64.5
49.4
61.1
84.9
63.3
92.8
38.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 2 3 4 5 6
Relational Wealth: Nuclear Family
Abundance of interpersonal relations, percentages
Latin America White-USA

28. On public
policy
Public policy
◦ Engagement and motivation in social programs
◦ Enhancing poverty abatement programs
◦ Allocation of resources
◦ Budget design
◦ Trade offs: e.g. inflation vs . Unemployment
◦ Municipal expenditure
GDP is an input
◦ Well-being is an outcome, GDP is an input
◦ Public policy should not be based on rising an input
◦ Blindness on the relationship between input and output
◦ Neglecting other inputs which could be more efficient in increasing well-being

29. On private
policy
Private policy
◦ Job satisfaction
◦ Non-monetary benefits
◦ Customer loyalty
◦ Product design
◦ Consumer satisfaction
◦ Consumer decisions, facing trade-offs

30. On progress
and
development
The notion of progress
◦ Are people satisfied with life?
The procurement of development
◦ Less mechanical than public policy
◦ Coevolution, Organic society
◦ Identifying the main pillars for development that aims at greater SWB
Pillars
◦Education for happiness
◦Livelihood
◦Environmental services
◦Human relations
◦Free time and role of leisure
◦Job satisfaction
◦Consumption education

31. National well-being account
Well-being
Well-being understanding
Drivers
Policies and Instruments
Life satisfaction
Affective state, evaluation of life
Satisfaction in domains of life
(Family, health, economic, job . . . )
Education, values, material and relational
wealth, health, urban design, free time,
community, institutions, so on
School curricula, working shifts, monetary
policy, urban regulation, so on