Life Satisfaction in Latin America: A Size-of-Place Analysis
研究发现拉丁美洲国家中，小城镇与乡村居民比中等城市居民更幸福或更不幸福，取决于国家；公共社会支出（尤其是健康、住房和社会保障）是解释这种差异的关键因素。
ABSTRACT In Latin America, countries can be divided into two groups: those where people in villages and small towns are happier than people in middle sized cities, and those where they are less happy. Four possible reasons for these patterns are explored: level of economic development, social values, public social spending, and presence of indigenous population. In regressions on happiness of each explanatory factor separately, development and public social spending (especially on health, housing, and social security) are the most important. In a joint regression, public social spending is found to be the main explanation of the different happiness patterns.