Does Social Trust Increase Individual Happiness in Japan?
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2011
Department
School of Business
Abstract
Economists are mainly interested in trust as being growth enhancing, but whether trust is well-being enhancing is underexplored. This paper examines if trust is intrinsically valuable by using individual happiness data from Japan. I attempt to mitigate the problem of non-random selection of residents by restricting the sample to non-movers. I also address reverse causality by instrumenting trust with residential stability, as trust should be higher for a more stable community. I find that trust has positive and significant effects on individual happiness. The instrumental variables approach suggests that social trust has a causal effect on individual happiness. © 2011 Japanese Economic Association.
DOI
10.1111/j.1468-5876.2011.00533.x
First Page
444
Last Page
459
Volume
62
Issue
4
ISSN
13524739
Recommended Citation
Kuroki, M. (2011). Does social trust increase individual happiness in Japan?. Japanese Economic Review, 62(4): 444–459. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5876.2011.00533.x
Comments
At the time of publication, Masanori Kuroki was affiliated with University of California, Riverside.