Well-being and geography: Modelling differences in regional well-being profiles in case of spatial dependence—evidence from Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide a new quantitative perspective on the geography of well-being using an urban–rural typology and characteristic city size elements in order to detect where people are happier and to examine the determinants of well-being by considering spatial dependence effects. We use 81 NUTS 3 regions and the time period 2012–2019 to analyse the geography of well-being for Turkey with panel and spatial panel models. Our results show that living in an urban area, in general, makes people happy, but that density negatively affects well-being. In addition, city size matters for enhancing well-being. We also analyse the determinants of well-being by using several socio-economic well-being indicators. Next, the aspatial and spatial model results based on spatial econometric regressions show that education, health, employment, and income are all important for well-being, whereas indirect effects (spillovers) of these indicators also exist. Our results indicate that ignoring spatial effects causes a misinterpretation of the effects of critical determinants of well-being in geography.