The association between life satisfaction and various factors
such as income, governance, social capital has gathered considerable
attention in the research community over several decades,
but the interaction effects between them have been
neglected. In this study, we investigate the economic
and social determinants of life satisfaction, particularly focusing
on the interaction between governance and social
capital. Prior to building a statistical model exploratory analysis
is performed using smoothing spline techniques, which enables
to reveal more flexible relationships between variables.
To account for the repeated measurement study design, mixed
effects models with interaction are adopted, and auto-regressive
errors are assumed. According to the analysis results,
the interaction between governance and social capital on life
satisfaction is statistically significant, and such significance is
valid only for high-income countries. This suggests that in order
to effectively enhance life satisfaction government should
improve not only governance but social capital.
Abstract ················································································································1
Chapter 1 Introduction ·························································································9
A. Research Background and Purpose ···················································································11
B. Research Scope and Methods ···················································································14
Chapter 2 Theoretical Background ·············································································17
A. Definition of Concepts ·······························································································19
B. Literature Review on the Social and Economic Determinants of Life Satisfaction ··············································39
Chapter 3 Exploratory Analysis: Life Satisfaction, Social Capital, Governance, Civil Freedom ····53
A. Overview of Data Analysis ························································································55
B. International Comparison of the Indicators Trends ····································································71
C. Factor and Cluster Analyses: Centered on OECD Countries ··········································90
D. Correlation Analysis ······························································································105
F. Structural Correlation ···················································································132
G. Chapter Summary ·····································································································155
Chapter 4 The Impact of the Interaction between Social Capital and Governance on People's Life Satisfaction····157
A. Dimension Reduction and Cluster Analysis ··································159
B. Mixed Models with Interaction Effects ······171
C. Chapter Summary ·····································································································183
Chapter 5 Conclusion and Policy Implications ·····························································185
A. Reserch Results ·····················································································187
B. Policy Implications ··························································································189
References ···························································································193
Appendices ································································································205
