1. Counting Happiness from Individual Level to Group Level
EDSEL L. BEJA JR.
Ateneo de Manila University

2. Bibliography
Alkire and Foster (2011). Counting and multi-dimensional poverty measurement, Journal of Public Economics 95(7-8): pp
Balisacan (2011). What Has Really Happened to Poverty in the Philippines? New Measures, Evidence, and Policy Implications, UP School of Economics, Working Paper

3. Bibliography
Ura, Alkire, and Zangmo (2012). Bhutan: Gross national happiness and the GNH index, in Helliwell, Layard, and Sachs (editors), World Happiness Report (pp )
Beja and Yap (2013). Counting Happiness from the Individual Level to the Group Level, Social Indicators Research 114(2): pp

4. Methodology Suppose n persons and m life domains.
Each life domain can be a single dimension or comprised of multiple dimensions.
Putting multiple dimensions together as single life domain requires predetermined weights (e.g., use stated individual ranking or external ranking).

5. Methodology
Define y = [yij] as a matrix of subjective well-being (i.e., happiness) of person i = 1...n (row) for life domain j = 1…m (column), 10 > yij > 0.
Hence, row expression (yi1, yi2… yim) is person i’s self-report for life domain 1 to j; the column expression (y1j, y2j… ynj)T is 1…n persons’ self-reports for a specific life domain j.

6. Methodology
First step: define threshold value for each life domain as 10 > yj* > 0. (It is possible to have the same y* across domains for simplicity.)
Then, gij = 1 iff yij ≥ yj* and gij = 0 otherwise; thus, obtain g = [gij] as a matrix composed of 1 and 0 values.

7. Methodology
Second step: get the horizontal sum across life domains (i.e., Σgij) and obtain vector s = [si], where m ≥ si > 0. (Recall, m is number of columns.)
That is, each element in s represents the total number of life domains of person i that is above threshold.

8. Methodology
Third step: the identification of happy people is by censoring s.
Thus, h = [hi] as censored vector s with hi = 1 iff si ≥ d and hj = 0 otherwise. The number of life domains, d, used for censoring may be set ex ante.
Group level happiness is therefore (Σh)/n with Σh as the count of happy people who fulfill the cutoff number of life domains that exceed a threshold

9. Measurement Scale ├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
Gallup: Cantril Scale (Cantril 1967)
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World Values Survey (Campbell et al 1976)
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10. Example d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 Person 1 8 6 9 7 Person 2 5 Person 3
Raw data for five individuals for six domains.

11. Example d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 Person 1 8 6 9 7 Person 2 5 Person 3
Define threshold per domain. Let’s set value at 7 regardless of domain, for simplicity; i.e., gij = 1 iff yij ≥ 7.

12. Example d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 Person 1 8 6 9 7 Person 2 5 Person 3
Define threshold per domain. Let’s set value at 7 regardless of domain, for simplicity; i.e., gij = 1 iff yij ≥ 7.

13. Example g1 g2 g3 g4 g5 g6 Person 1 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
Person 2
Person 3
Person 4
Person 5
Define threshold per domain. Let’s set value at 7 regardless of domain, for simplicity; i.e., gij = 1 iff yij ≥ 7.

14. Example s h Person 1 5 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4 3 Σh = Person 5 4
Σh =
Person 5 4
n =
h = [hi] as censored vector s with hi = 1 iff si ≥ d and hj = 0 otherwise. Suppose d = 5.

15. Other Issues
Measurement Scale (specifically, issues about cardinality and comparability)
Validity (i.e., how accurate do we measure a construct) and Reliability (i.e., how precise are we measuring a construct)

16. Measurement Scale ├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
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17. Measurement Scale ├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
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18. Parable of the Half Full Glass

19. Ateneo College Students
Measurement Scale (Beja)
0% %
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20. Ateneo College Students

21. Ateneo College Students

22. Thank You