How does civilization promote happiness? Insights from the Civilized Cities Program in China
发布日期：2024-09-04
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摘要：Urban governance aims to enhance overall social welfare, while residents’ happiness frequently falls by the wayside. Civilization, as a critical factor influencing residents’ happiness, has not yet been fully understood regarding its impact and mechanisms. This paper uses the China Family Panel Studies data, which includes around 50,000 samples ranging from 2010 to 2020, to construct a multi-period difference-in-differences model. It finds that China’s highest honor for urban brands, the civilized city program, leads to an average increase of 2.6% in residents’ happiness as measured by life satisfaction. This happiness effect is robust but temporary, gradually diminishing within five years following the honor. The happiness effect is heterogeneous across different waves and city sizes and is effective only for urban residents. Mechanism analysis indicates the happiness effect of the civilized city program through three channels: government efforts, social trust, and identity recognition. Additionally, our research indicates that the civilized city initiative improves residents’ perception of environmental quality and reduces income inequality. These findings provide insights into understanding how the civilization tournament policy promotes happiness.
摘要中译：城市治理旨在提高整体社会福利，居民的幸福感也将受到影响。但文明作为影响居民幸福感的关键因素，其影响和作用机制尚未得到充分认识。本文基于2010-2020年中国家庭追踪调查（CFPS）数据，运用多时点双重差分模型估计了文明城市评选对居民幸福感的因果影响。研究发现，“文明城市”使居民幸福感（以生活满意度衡量）平均增加了2.6%。这种幸福效应具有稳健性，但仅为短期性，在荣誉授予后的五年内逐渐减弱。幸福效应在不同获评批次和规模的城市间存在异质性，且仅对城市居民有效，未能产生对农村居民的幸福效应。机制分析表明，文明城市计划通过政府努力、社会信任和身份认同三个渠道对幸福感产生影响。此外，研究还发现，文明城市倡议提高了居民对环境质量的感知，缩小了收入差距。这些发现为理解文明城市评选政策如何提升居民幸福提供了深刻的见解。
作者：朱朋虎、张宁等
文章链接：Zhu, P., Hu, Y. & Zhang, N. How does civilization promote happiness? Insights from the Civilized Cities Program in China. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11, 1060 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03539-8
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