Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, May 2017

The study of happiness or well-being is now defined in economics as a one or more quantitative measures intended to assess the quality of life of individuals and group. Traditionally, economists have almost exclusively focused on wealth, consumption or other monetary aggregates to measure individual are well-being. However, subjective well-being (SWB) is gaining prominence as an alternative measure of an individual?s well-being and utility. In this study, we attempt to measure the subjective well-being of vegetable farm households in Barangay Marilog and examine its determinants, both economic and non-economic factors. We also posit that farmers who are clustered and non-clustered have different levels of SWB and that farmers with varying levels of SWB have corresponding differences in household consumption patterns and attitude towards adoption of technologies. A cross-sectional data was obtained from 118 respondents engaged in vegetables farming in varying sitios located in Barangay Marilog, Davao City. Since SWB has an inherent ordering, an ordered probit model was employed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science tool. The Overall: Satisfaction-with-life-as-a-whole, Affect Balance Scale, and Overall Happiness Scale were used to measure their level of SWB. Results show that farmers who are cluster members are happier, more satisfied and have higher positive affect in life then farmers who are not cluster members. Moreover, farm households that are already happy have increased expenditures on basic human needs, except in education. Additionally, they are more willing to adapt to change and try new ideas. Various factors such as household size, number of children and teenagers, number of employed household members, access to basic medical care, farming experience, number of laborer hired, age and, cluster membership have significant effects on the levels of SWB. Our study offers practical insights into crafting policies and programs geared towards increasing the SWB of farm households.