Happiness of Hong Kong youth from 2000 to 2014: empirical evidence on the differential impact of socioeconomic conditions on youth versus other age groups

This paper aims to explain why Hong Kong youth have become unhappier than older people in recent years. We test in this connection six hypotheses, using random effects ordinal logistic regressions with a combined macro-micro dataset from official statistics and a longitudinal opinion survey project...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of youth studies Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 253 - 271
Main Authors Chiu, Stephen Wing-kai, Wong, Kevin Tze-wai
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 16.03.2018
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Age groups
Economic growth
Happiness
Hong Kong
Housing
housing price
multilevel analysis
Older people
Random effects
Socioeconomic factors
Youth
Hong Kong
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This paper aims to explain why Hong Kong youth have become unhappier than older people in recent years. We test in this connection six hypotheses, using random effects ordinal logistic regressions with a combined macro-micro dataset from official statistics and a longitudinal opinion survey project from 2000 to 2014. The results show that the decline in the happiness level in recent years is more significant for Hong Kong youth than for older people. We also find evidence of age heterogeneity in the impacts of both macroeconomic conditions and the housing price on happiness. GDP per capita has a weaker positive effect on youth's happiness than it does on older people. The positive correlation between housing price and happiness is valid for older people only. Rapid economic growth and the rise in the price of housing have made older people happier than youth since the early 2010s.
ISSN:1367-6261
1469-9680
DOI:10.1080/13676261.2017.1366014