The Leisure Experience: Me and the Others

Abstract

Research on Subjective Well-Being (SWB) recognizes the important role of individual Leisure Satisfaction – measured by responses to a stated leisure experience valuation question – as a mediator of individual Happiness. Leisure is a complex human need, where "non-working time" is not the only productive factor required. In this sense, individual heterogeneity must be taken into account due to the relevance of tastes (each agent defines the boundaries of her own “leisure experience”), skills (since she implements an optimal allocation of resources given a technology to produce and consume that leisure experience), and resources availability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of individual Leisure Satisfaction by using data derived from the 2003 Survey on Living Conditions and Poverty for Andalucía (Spain). Since we assume leisure experience is produced and consumed within the household, utility and household production functions are the basis for our theoretical approach and empirical specification. Then, using a self-reported measure of leisure experience valuation (Leisure Satisfaction), ordered probit models are estimated. These models account both for personal demographic characteristics as well as household socio-economic variables allowing us to disentangle the impact of the latter into the allocation of resources (time and goods) devoted to leisure experience production.