Geographies of wellbeing and development Empirical analyses on the relationship between objective and subjective measures of wellbeing in Europe

This thesis investigates the cross-sectional association between different quantifiable societal dimensions that indicate spatially varying levels of wellbeing and development. The analysis is grounded in human geography but applies an explicitly interdisciplinary focus, combining theories and measures from economic geography, cultural studies, spatial economics, sociology and social psychology. In the empirical analyses, geographically referenced European Social Survey (ESS) data containing measures of subjective wellbeing (SWB) and human values were analysed together with objective indicators of economic performance on national and subnational scales. This dissertation suggests that multivariate models of SWB data can focus on three different areas of geographical heterogeneity. First, intercept heterogeneity, which is built on a constructivist and container-based view of geography, as it focuses on spatially varying levels (intercepts) of SWB aggregated from survey data. Second, slope heterogeneity, which suggests that different geographical contexts affect the relationship between individual level SWB and its predictors. Third, scale heterogeneity, which involves the spatial rescaling of the analysis while interpreting the relief map of SWB. This thesis studied these areas in four different empirical analyses. First, Paper I demonstrated that levels of ‘social trust’ and ‘social contact and support’, which indicate social wellbeing, and a sense of ‘competence and meaning’, which denotes personal wellbeing, are significant positive correlates with regional GDP after controlling for regional economic indicators and the spatial effects embedded in the data. Second, Paper II utilized the Human Values Scale in the ESS and studied the association between certain values and the level of economic performance. The paper demonstrated that the aggregate level of the value ‘self-direction’, which indicates independent thought, action and creativity, is a strong predictor of regional GDP. Paper II also addressed the question of rescaling and used welfare regimes as a relevant socio-historic framework of analysis. Paper III focused on the contextual effects of living in ‘Metropolitan Finland’. The results showed that the negative effect on life satisfaction of residing in the capital region of Finland is first compositional, as the population in ‘Metropolitan Finland’ is composed of individuals who appreciate the values of ‘power’ and ‘achievement’, which are themselves associated with lower life satisfaction. However, it is also contextual, as residing in the capital region moderates the positive wellbeing effect of socially focused values such as ‘benevolence’ and ‘conformity’. Finally, Paper IV added vertical detail to the intercept heterogeneity approach and asked whether changes in macroeconomic conditions, in the context of Ireland and its recent economic recession, are experienced differently in different socio-economic categories, i.e. classes. The results show that the