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There is now recognition that a population's overall level of well-being is defined not just by income and wealth. Where we live and who we interact with are likely to be equally important in our overall levels of satisfaction with our lives. This thinking has stimulated studies of subjective well-being, or happiness, at both national and local scales. These studies suggest that where you live does matter, although it is health and family status that have the most direct effects on well-being. In this study, we use a detailed dataset on well-being from the China Household Finance Survey to reexamine well-being across China, where profound socioeconomic changes are taking place. The study controls for self-reported health and examines subjective well-being across extensive and varied Chinese urban and rural environments. We find that the earlier pessimism about China's well-being, which emphasized declining happiness, may be misplaced. We make two contributions: first, we show a rising level of subjective well-being, and second, we show that there is a narrowing gap in well-being across different social indicators. Methodologically, we bring in the perspectives of both social capital and geographic context.

Previous research has shown that households are sensitive to commuting distance. In particular, households beyond a threshold distance move closer to the job when they change residence. The questions which motivate this paper are – how does race affect the probability of moving closer to the job when households change residence, and is there a trade off between commuting distance and neighborhood composition? Using a specialized data set the research shows that the commuting behaviors of minority and white households are consistent with the overall hypothesis that households minimize their commuting distance whenever possible. The research also shows that there is a tendency for both white and black households to choose slightly more integrated settings after changing residences. Yet, black households have to juggle the trade-off between neighborhoods with high socio-economic status and commute distance and those who choose higher socio-economic status neighborhoods have longer commutes.

Previous research has shown that households are sensitive to commuting distance. A model of the responses to work-residence separation showed that the probability of moving closer to the job was a function of increasing distance from the work place. In particular, households beyond a threshold distance moved closer to the job when they changed residence. The question which is central in this paper is how race affects the probability of moving closer to the job when households change residence. Using a specialized data set the research shows that the commuting behaviors of relatively affluent minority and white households are consistent with the overall hypothesis that households minimize their commuting distance whenever possible. Thus, when we hold socio-economic status constant, there are negligible differences int he responses of white and minority households. Both household types are likely to move closer to their work locations with greater distances from the work location.

This research uses a longitudinal data set of commuting behavior to test the nature and strength of the association between residential change and employment location. Do households minimize commuting distances when they change residences and what are the differences for one-worker and two-worker households? The analysis utilizes descriptive measures of distance and time to work for pre- and post-residential relocations and develops estimates from a probability model of work-place attraction. We extend earlier research on commuting distances by using a multimodal rather than a monocentric city, by specifically considering the commuting responses of two-worker households and by formally estimating a model of the response to commuting distances. The findings indicate that both one- and two-worker households with greater separation between workplace and residence make decreases in distance and time. Overall, as other studies have shown, women commute shorter distances and are more likely to minimize commuting after a move than are men. The probability model fits the likelihood of decreasing distance with greater separation and provides a more exact specification of the connection between residence and workplace than previous analyses of this relationship.