How does women's political empowerment relate to subjective well-being? The moderating role of institutional quality

Abstract

This paper adds new evidence to the existing literature on institutions and well-being. In particular, we examine how women's political empowerment relates to subjective well-being and how this relationship is mediated by institutional quality. Drawing on data from 84 world countries for the period 2006–2019, several interesting findings arise from our results. First, there exists a positive relationship between women's political empowerment and subjective well-being, with the dimension of political representation exhibiting a predominant role. Second, the relationship between women's political inclusion and subjective well-being is mediated by the average quality of government, suggesting the existence of a positive interplay between both explanatory variables. Finally, the role played by institutional quality is contingent on the dimensions of governance considered, since only corruption control and government effectiveness are positive and significantly associated to subjective well-being.