União Europeia e desenvolvimento socioeconômico: efeitos do bloco sobre os estados de bem-estar social de seus membros sob a ótica da felicidade (2005 a 2023)

Abstract

In the context of the ongoing globalization process, the European Union represents the most advanced experience in the formation of economic blocs and therefore the greatest potential for influence on the socioeconomic development of its members. However, few studies have investigated this phenomenon through the dimension of subjective well-being (happiness). Therefore, this thesis sought to investigate the influence of the European Union on the welfare state of its members (in the areas of social security, education, health, gender equality and family protection) and the resulting effects on their socioeconomic development, from the perspective of the subjective well-being indicator of overall life satisfaction, from the World Happiness Report. Thus, in the first part, a literature review was used to understand the three pillars underlying this work – Happiness Economics, welfare states and European Union - and their possible linkages. In the second part of this thesis, the investigation sought to use econometric methods. Regressions were estimated by the fixed effects panel and random effects panel methods for a sample of 164 countries over 19 years (2005-2023). Using data from the World Happiness Report and the World Bank, overall life satisfaction was regressed on: control variables (social support, freedom, generosity, corruption, and population); variables of interest (European Union dummy; variables associated with the welfare state—total public spending, vulnerable labor, public spending on education, school life expectancy, public spending on health, life expectancy at birth, and female labor force—; macroeconomic aggregates—GDP per capita and unemployment). The main results generally indicated the following evidence: membership in the European Union has direct effects on happiness, variables associated with welfare state and macroeconomic aggregates (mean difference tests); significant regression results with a positive sign for total public spending (in the context of the European Union versus other countries in the sample), public spending on education, female labor force (in the context of the European Union versus other European countries), and GDP per capita; significant regression results with a negative sign for EU dummy (robust direct and negative effect of the bloc on happiness), school life expectancy, and unemployment (in line with the extensive literature on the high human costs of unemployment on happiness); no corroboration of the "Easterlin paradox" or the "income-happiness paradox" was found. Given the results, it is concluded that evidence was found that the European bloc directly and indirectly influences (through effects on welfare state policies and, additionally, macroeconomic aggregates) the socioeconomic development of its members, from the perspective of subjective well-being.