Exploring the Freedom of Being: Essays on the Relationship between Freedom and Subjective Well-Being

The thesis explores the relationship between freedom and subjective well-being within and across countries, in light of the global trajectory of development towards higher levels of freedom. In doing so, freedom is measured using measures of support for economic freedom, perceived freedom, and perceived corruption, where corruption represents a distortion to economic freedom. The results show that there is a positive association between freedom and subjective well-being, a pre-requisite of which is the attainment of physical and material security.