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Contribution of Natural and Economic Capital to Subjective Well-Being: Empirical Evidence from a Small-Scale Society in Kodagu (Karnataka), India

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Abstract

Subjective well-being is determined by several types of sources of satisfaction, defined as forms of capitals. Most of research has been focused on the links between economic capital and well-being, neglecting the contribution of other forms of capital as source of satisfaction. Here, we bring natural capital into the equation and explore the relations between economic and natural capital and subjective well-being. We approach well-being as a multidimensional concept and then focus on three of its dimensions: subsistence, security, and reproduction and care. Working with tribal communities from Kodagu (Karnataka, India), we found positive associations between economic and natural capital and subjective well-being. Nevertheless, the two types of capitals differed on their relative contribution to (a) overall subjective well-being and (b) the three selected dimensions. Natural capital can be more important than economic capital in fulfilling human well-being. Findings support ongoing calls for explicitly incorporating ecological assets and ecosystem services in the design of policies oriented to measure and improve well-being.

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Notes

  1. We adopt the definition of subjective well-being as respondents' own assessments of their lived experiences in the form of self-reports of satisfaction, happiness, well-being or some other near-synonym.

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Acknowledgments

Research was funded by NSF—Cultural Anthropology Program (BSC-0726612) and ANR—French National Research Agency Project (ANR-05-PADD-0XX Public Policies and Traditional Management of Trees and Forests—POPULAR). We greatly appreciate the hospitality, kindness, and friendship of people from Kodagu. We are also grateful to P. Vaast and C.G. Kushalappa. We thank the comments and suggestions by S. Crespin, A. Fernández-Llamazares, A. Pyhälä. F. Zorondo-Rodríguez thanks the economic support provided by the “Presidente de la República” scholarship (CONICYT, Chile).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab. Conservación Biológica, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, casilla 653, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile

    Francisco Zorondo-Rodríguez

  2. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain

    Francisco Zorondo-Rodríguez, Mar Grau-Satorras, Erik Gómez-Baggethun & Victoria Reyes-García

  3. Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

    Katie Demps

  4. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Oslo, 0349, Norway

    Erik Gómez-Baggethun

  5. Research Unit Goods and Services of Tropical Forest Ecosystems, CIRAD, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Claude García

  6. Department of Environmental Systems Science, FORDEV, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Claude García

  7. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

    Victoria Reyes-García

  8. Ecology Department, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry UT, 605001, India

    Francisco Zorondo-Rodríguez, Mar Grau-Satorras, Jenu Kalla, Katie Demps, Claude García & Victoria Reyes-García

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  1. Francisco Zorondo-Rodríguez
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  2. Mar Grau-Satorras
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  7. Victoria Reyes-García
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Correspondence to Francisco Zorondo-Rodríguez.

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Zorondo-Rodríguez, F., Grau-Satorras, M., Kalla, J. et al. Contribution of Natural and Economic Capital to Subjective Well-Being: Empirical Evidence from a Small-Scale Society in Kodagu (Karnataka), India. Soc Indic Res 127, 919–937 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0975-9

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