1. Well-being through the lens of the internet
- Author
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Algan, Yann, Murtin, Fabrice, Beasley, Elizabeth, Higa, Kazuhito, Senik, Claudia, Sciences Po Paris - Institut d'études politiques de Paris (IEP Paris), Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques (OCDE), Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications (CEPREMAP), Hitotsubashi University, Paris School of Economics (PSE), Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques (PJSE), Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Département d'économie (Sciences Po) (ECON), Sciences Po (Sciences Po)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Sciences Po (Sciences Po), Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE), Département d'économie de l'ENS-PSL (ECO ENS-PSL), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), European Project: 647870,H2020,ERC-2014-CoG,SOWELL(2015), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris)
- Subjects
Employment ,Computer and Information Sciences ,Economics ,Political Science ,Science ,Emotions ,Happiness ,Information Seeking Behavior ,Social Sciences ,Jobs ,Surveys ,Elections ,Research and Analysis Methods ,Geographical locations ,Habits ,Psychology ,Humans ,Computer Simulation ,Healthy Lifestyle ,Computer Networks ,Behavior ,Internet ,Survey Research ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Correction ,[SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance ,United States ,Search Engine ,Research Design ,Labor Economics ,North America ,Quality of Life ,Medicine ,People and places ,Finance ,Research Article ,Forecasting - Abstract
We build models to estimate well-being in the United States based on changes in the volume of internet searches for different words, obtained from the Google Trends website. The estimated well-being series are weighted combinations of word groups that are endogenously identified to fit the weekly subjective well-being measures collected by Gallup Analytics for the United States or the biannual measures for the 50 states. Our approach combines theoretical underpinnings and statistical analysis, and the model we construct successfully estimates the out-of-sample evolution of most subjective well-being measures at a one-year horizon. Our analysis suggests that internet search data can be a complement to traditional survey data to measure and analyze the well-being of a population at high frequency and local geographic levels. We highlight some factors that are important for well-being, as we find that internet searches associated with job search, civic participation, and healthy habits consistently predict well-being across several models, datasets and use cases during the period studied.
- Published
- 2019