The contribution of the rule of law to subjective well-being
Keywords:
Subjective well-being, Life evaluation, Rule of law, Income level, Gallup World PollAbstract
There is increasing evidence that measures beyond economic indicators are needed to provide a more accurate picture of human well-being. One of these measures may be an indicator of institutional quality: the rule of law. The aim of this study is to analyse the influence that rule of law has on the subjective well-being of 128 countries. Using data from the World Justice Project and the Gallup World, results showed that, independent of the economic level of the country, there is room for improvement in subjective well-being via enhancement of the rule of law, giving special priority to first-order rights.
References
Arajärvi, N. (2018). The rule of law in the 2030 agenda. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 10(1), 187-217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-017-0068-8
Arshed, N., Arif, A., Abbas, R. Z., & Hameed, K. (2021). Comparing quality of institutions with happiness of Asian people. Estudios de Economía Aplicada, 39(2), 12-32. https://doi.org/10.25115/eea.v39i2.3431
Bedner, A. (2010). An elementary approach to the rule of law. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 2(1), 48-74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1876404510100037
Cameron, M. A. (2007). Citizenship deficits in Latin America's democracies. Convergencia Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 14(45), 11-30.
Cantril, H. (1965). Pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Carothers, T., (Ed) (2010). Promoting the rule of law abroad: in search of knowledge. Brookings Institution Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt6wpk74
Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. In E. Diener & E.M. Suh. (Eds.). Subjective well-being across cultures. MIT Press.
European Commission. (2020). Rule of law report. The rule of law situation in the European Union. Europe: European Union.
Gallup World Poll (GWP). (2020). World Poll Survey Data. Gallup Inc.
Li, Q., & An. L. (2020). Corruption takes away happiness: evidence from a cross-national study. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(2), 485-504. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00092-z
Lischetzke, T., & Michael, E. (2017). The functionality of emotional clarity: A process-oriented approach to understanding the relation between emotional clarity and well-being. In M. D. Robinson - M. Eid. (Eds.), The Happy Mind: Cognitive Contributions to Well-being (pp. 371-388). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58763-9_20
Liu, H., Gao, H., & Huang, Q. (2020). Better government, happier residents? Quality of government and life satisfaction in China. Social Indicators Research, 147(3), 971-990.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02172-2
Meijer, A., Curtin, J., & Hillebrandt, M. (2012). Open government: connecting vision and voice. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 78(1), 10-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852311429533
Mungar, A., & Cramer, K. (2021). An International study of democracy and perceived wellbeing. Journal of Interpersonal Relations, Intergroup Relations and Identity, 14, 162-176
Schroeder, W. (2021). The rule of law as a value in the sense of article 2 TEU: What does it mean and imply? In A. Von Bogdandy, P. Bogdanowicz, I. Canor, C. Grabenwarter & M. Taborowsk (eds), Defending checks and balances in EU Member States. Taking Stock of Europe's Actions, Springer, 105-126. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-62317-6_5
Stein, R. A. (2019). What exactly is the rule of law. Houston Law Review, 57, 187-198. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/faculty_articles/698.
Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A., & Fitoussi, J. P. (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Retrieved from: http://www.stiglitzsen-fitoussi.fr/en/index.htm
Tamanaha, B. Z. (2004). On the rule of law: History, politics, theory. University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812378
Veenhoven, R. (2007). Measures of gross national happiness. OECD Publishing.
Versteeg, M., & Ginsburg, T. (2017). Measuring the rule of law: a comparison of indicators. Law & Social Inquiry, 42(1), 100-137. https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12175
Villanueva, L., Prado-Gascó, V., & Montoya-Castilla, I. (2020). Longitudinal analysis of subjective well-being in preadolescents: The role of emotional intelligence, self-esteem and perceived stress. Journal of Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320951605
World Justice Project (WJP). (2020). The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2020. https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJP-ROLI-2020-Online_0.pdf
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Lidón Villanueva, Candela Adrián, Aitana Gomis-Pomares
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
1. The authors retain the copyright and assign to the journal the right to first publication, with the work registered under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows third parties to use what has been published as long as they mention the authorship of the work and the first publication in this journal.
2. Authors may make other independent and additional contractual agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (e.g., inclusion in an institutional repository or publication in a book) provided that they clearly indicate that the work was first published in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (e.g., on institutional or personal pages) before and during the review and publication process, as this may lead to productive exchanges and greater and faster dissemination of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).