Does wealth equate to happiness? an 11-year panel data analysis exploring socio-economic indicators and social media metrics

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301206
• Publication Date: 2024-04-10T17:22:26Z
• Authors: Feng Huang; Huimin Ding; Nuo Han; Fumeng Li; Tingshao Zhu
• Keywords: Per capita income; Kuznets Curve; Subjective Well-Being

The Easterlin paradox questions the link between economic growth and national well-being, emphasizing necessity to explore impact of elasticity, income inequality, their temporal spatial heterogeneity on subjective happiness. Despite importance these factors, few studies have examined them together, thus ongoing debates about economics well-being persist. To fill this gap, our analysis utilizes 11 years panel data from 31 provinces in China, integrating macroeconomic indicators social media content reassess paradox. We use GDP per capita Gini coefficient as proxies for respectively, study effects expressed by citizens mainland China. Our approach combines machine learning fixed models evaluate relationships. Key findings include: (1) In relationships, a 46.70% increase implies 0.38 while 0.09 means 1.47 decrease well-being. (2) every capita, rises 0.51; however, relationship is buffered unfair distribution, no longer significantly affects when index exceeds 0.609. This makes synthetic contribution debate paradox, indicating that can enhance if inequality kept below certain level. Although results are theoretically enlightening globally, study’s sample comes Due differences cultural, economic, political further research suggested dynamics globally.