Wellbeing in South Africa: regional economic disparities, conspicuous consumption, and the provision of infrastructure.
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Date
2023
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the correlates of subjective well-being in South Africa, with a
focus on the role of location, and specifically the impact of regional differences,
conspicuous consumption, and access to public infrastructure in South Africa (SA).
This thesis contributes to the body of welfare economics in SA by addressing three
sets of aspects of well-being. The first of these (Chapter 3) is about individual
differences in subjective well-being (SWB) across regions. This chapter makes use of
five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) and the Quantac EasyData,
corresponding to the NIDS waves. Using a combination of pooled ordered probit
(POP), pooled ordinary least squares (POLS), and fixed-effects (FE) estimation, the
overall finding from the first study shows that individual SWB differs across regions.
Individuals located in urban district municipalities and economically thriving provinces
report higher levels of individual SWB relative to individuals located in economically
deprived regions.
The second aspect (Chapter 4) examines the effect of conspicuous consumption by
others on individual well-being. Using all five waves of the NIDS data, the findings
suggest that, after controlling for comparator expenditure at the cluster and district
level, conspicuous consumption by others at the district level decreases individual
SWB after controlling for other important correlates of SWB. Also, it is worth
mentioning that the findings differ depending on the proximity of the reference group.
The findings suggest that individual SWB is negatively sensitive to conspicuous
consumption by others that occurs in distant proximities, as opposed to close
proximities.
The third part (Chapter 5) examines the effect of access to public infrastructure on
individual SWB. Access to infrastructure is measured by the distance individuals travel
to the nearest educational, healthcare, and police service facility. Using data from the
Living Conditions Survey (LCS) 2014/2015, the overall findings show that the effect of
access on individual SWB differs across the various kinds of infrastructure facilities.
Furthermore, long distances travelled to access public infrastructure pose a significant
barrier for vulnerable segments of the population. Therefore, the government’s policy
framework and commitment should be invigorated towards improving structural and
systemic factors that hamper effective access to infrastructure.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.