Work, Subjective Well-being and Capabilities

Abstract

Chapter 2: This chapter explores the link between poverty as capability deprivation and current life satisfaction. Using German panel data, I examine both whether capability deprivation does hurt and whether individuals eventually adapt. To detect capability deprivation I draw on the notion of an inadequate income together with nonconsumption data of specific commodities. Assumptions and conditions rendering this approach valid are scrutinised. The results indicate that capability deprivation reduces life satisfaction significantly. Moreover the evidence also suggests that individuals fail to adapt within the subsequent four to six years. Finally, the mere lowness of income fails to capture its inadequacy. Chapter 3: This chapter scrutinises the influence of job characteristics on subjective well-being. The capability approach perspective provides a profound conceptual underpinning that supports the interpretation of the results and guides the operationalisation of job characteristics. The empirical analysis employs both a confirmatory factor analysis and the common life and job satisfaction frameworks. Job characteristics are found to increase both job and life satisfaction significantly. Moreover, they also account for what has been called procedural utility and occupational differences in job satisfaction alike. The results suggest that exercises in this vein may help in setting the stage for a more comprehensive and compelling approach to human well-being. Chapter 4: Job characteristics have been studied from various perspectives. Their influence on labour supply, however, has mostly been neglected. The aim of this paper is thus twofold: First, we propose a consistent conceptual framework, based on Lancaster’s approach to consumer theory, for rationalizing such characteristics in conventional theoretical labour supply models. Within this framework, we investigate two main hypotheses: Favorable job characteristics imply (i) lower wage elasticities of labour supply but (ii) larger (less negative) income elasticities. Second, we provide new empirical evidence on the job characteristics-labour supply nexus by estimating a standard discrete choice model using Australian data. The empirical findings lend support to our hypotheses and thus buttress the importance of job characteristics in labour supply decisions.