The life satisfaction of the indigenous population in Arctic Alaska is quite high, perhaps higher than that of the U.S. population in general. Is wage employment brought by modern economic growth responsible for their high life satisfaction? Probably not. Interestingly, we find that household wage income and job opportunities per working-age Native are negatively associated with their life satisfaction. In contrast, non-wage income, which does not involve the sacrifice of time that can be used for subsistence activities, is positively associated with life satisfaction. A household’s involvement in these traditional activities is found to be positively associated with life satisfaction as well. The findings challenge the common preconception about the effects of modernization and point to the importance of the non-wage subsistence activities as a preferred substitute for wage employment to this indigenous population. A combination of Christian religious beliefs and indigenous spiritual beliefs is also positively associated with their life satisfaction.

北极阿拉斯加土著居民的生活满意度很高，也许比美国总体上更高。现代经济增长带来的有薪就业是否对他们的高生活满意度负责？可能不会。有趣的是，我们发现每个工作年龄的原住民的家庭工资收入和工作机会与他们的生活满意度负相关。相反，不涉及可用于维持生计的时间损失的非工资性收入与生活满意度成正比。发现家庭参与这些传统活动也与生活满意度成正相关。这些发现挑战了人们对现代化的影响的普遍观念，并指出了非工资维持生计的重要性，因为它是该土著人口有偿就业的首选。基督教宗教信仰和土著精神信仰的结合也与他们的生活满意度呈正相关。