Freedom, political Trust and Economics of Happiness: Insights from Pakistan

Abstract

This study find to extend the existing theories of happiness centered on income to include variables related to the subjective well-being in Pakistan and the impact of personal autonomy and trust in political and civil institutions. It looks at the effects of perceived autonomy and trust in political and public institutions on happiness, using the data from the 7th Wave of the World Values Survey (2022) in developing country facing governance and socio-economic challenges. The study employs a two-level mixed-effects ordered logistic regression approach, which takes into account the hierarchy of the data (individuals nested within communities). The findings demonstrate that perceived personal autonomy is a strong predictor of happiness, even controlling for the effects of income, health, education and other demographic variables. Health is an important positive factor of happiness, while food insecurity and victimization by crime is a negative factor. Perceived trust has mixed results: trust in courts, civil service, government and the press is positively associated with happiness while trust in parliament is negatively associated, which is a sign of problems in the quality of parliament. This research is in line with the capability approach and economics of happiness in terms of freedom, institutional efficiency and socio-economic insecurity being the basic aspects of well-being. This chapter concludes that policies to increase the happiness in Pakistan should not solely aim at economic development, but also increasing personal freedom, institutional credibility and personal security.