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<p>The security of property rights is widely recognized as a cornerstone of economic development, while its psychological implications for subjective well-being remain insufficiently understood and potentially contingent on cultural context. Here, we show that greater security of property rights is associated with higher levels of both affective well-being (i.e., an emotional, irrational component) and cognitive well-being (i.e., a measured, rational component) across 164 countries between 2009 and 2020. Using the share of neighboring countries with common-law legal origin as an instrumental variable, we find that a one–standard-deviation increase in the security of property rights raises affective well-being by 0.11 standard deviations and cognitive well-being by 0.05 standard deviations. We further identify distinct psychological pathways underlying these effects. Beyond income channels, perceived freedom of choice emerges as the primary channel linking the security of property rights to affective well-being. Importantly, these psychological benefits are not universal. The well-being returns to the security of property rights are significantly larger in more individualistic societies, where legal protection of ownership more strongly reinforces personal autonomy. These findings advance institutional economics by showing that the alignment between legal institutions and cultural values is critical for maximizing societal welfare, highlighting the necessity for culturally attuned policy frameworks.</p>

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The security of property rights and subjective well-being: cultural contingencies in a global instrumental variable analysis

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月13日

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  • Yudi Zhang,
  • Li Tian,
  • Jingwei Li,
  • Wei Ouyang,
  • Yihao Chen

摘要

The security of property rights is widely recognized as a cornerstone of economic development, while its psychological implications for subjective well-being remain insufficiently understood and potentially contingent on cultural context. Here, we show that greater security of property rights is associated with higher levels of both affective well-being (i.e., an emotional, irrational component) and cognitive well-being (i.e., a measured, rational component) across 164 countries between 2009 and 2020. Using the share of neighboring countries with common-law legal origin as an instrumental variable, we find that a one–standard-deviation increase in the security of property rights raises affective well-being by 0.11 standard deviations and cognitive well-being by 0.05 standard deviations. We further identify distinct psychological pathways underlying these effects. Beyond income channels, perceived freedom of choice emerges as the primary channel linking the security of property rights to affective well-being. Importantly, these psychological benefits are not universal. The well-being returns to the security of property rights are significantly larger in more individualistic societies, where legal protection of ownership more strongly reinforces personal autonomy. These findings advance institutional economics by showing that the alignment between legal institutions and cultural values is critical for maximizing societal welfare, highlighting the necessity for culturally attuned policy frameworks.