2026-10-14T01:48:11Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33820498 2026-09-15T19:54:14Z portal_1197 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data for National happiness and genetic distance : A cautious exploration 2015-2020 Eugenio Proto (490200) Andrew J. Oswald (7195757) Well-being Well-being -- Cross-cultural studies Quality of life Happiness Migrated from ePrints This paper studies a famous unsolved puzzle in quantitative social science. Why do some nations report such high levels of mental well-being? Denmark, for instance, regularly tops the league table of rich countries’ happiness; Britain and the US enter further down; some nations do unexpectedly poorly. The explanation for the long observed ranking -- one that holds after adjustment for GDP and other socioeconomic variables -- is currently unknown. Using data on 131 countries, the paper cautiously explores a new approach. It documents three forms of evidence consistent with the hypothesis that some nations may have a genetic advantage in well-being.<br><br>Data record consists of a readme file and a link to the dataset, included with the publication under supporting information. This dataset consists of two datasets that merge different data available in the public domain. The data consists of measures of well being for a cross- section of countries which are the dependent variables. The main explanatory variables are different measures of allele frequencies representing genetic differences. The resulting paper examines a famous puzzle in social science. Why do some nations report such high happiness? Denmark, for instance, regularly tops the league table of rich nations’ wellbeing; Great Britain and the US enter further down; France and Italy do relatively poorly. Yet the explanation for this ranking – one that holds even after adjustment for GDP and socioeconomic and cultural variables – remains unknown. The paper explores a new avenue. Using data on 131 countries, it documents a range of evidence consistent with the hypothesis that certain nations may have a genetic advantage in well-being. 2026-09-15T19:54:14Z Dataset Dataset 10.82444/warw.33820498.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_for_National_happiness_and_genetic_distance_A_cautious_exploration_2015-2020/33820498 CC BY 4.0