Public sector and happiness: A study on OECD countries

Happiness economics is a field that examines the social, demographic, and economic factors that influence happiness. Happiness economics is interconnected with public economics because it plays a role in the development of happiness-enhancing government policies. Therefore, studies exploring the relationship between happiness economics and public economics have increased in recent years. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between happiness and the determinants of happiness using panel data analysis using data from OECD countries for the period 2010-2022. In this context, variables were determined by considering the role of the public sector among the determinants of happiness. The data on the level of happiness, the dependent variable in the study, was obtained from the World Happiness Report dataset. The independent variables of the study are voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption, government expenditures per capita, tax revenue, life expectancy at birth, GDP per capita, and social support. Data for the independent variables were obtained from the World Bank, Our World in Data, and the OECD database. According to the results, a negative and significant relationship was found between happiness and voice and accountability; and a positive and significant relationship was found between happiness and control of corruption, government expenditures per capita, tax revenue, life expectancy at birth, GDP per capita and social support. The study's results are similar to those in the relevant literature.