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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2021‒09‒13
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Johnston, David; Onder, Yasin Kursat; Rahman, Habibur; Ulubasoglu, Mehmet |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates and quantifies the wellbeing effects of the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires, the deadliest wildfire event in Australia's known history. Using subjective wellbeing data from a nationally representative longitudinal study and adopting an individual fixed-effects approach, our results identify a significant reduction in life satisfaction for individuals residing in close proximity of the wildfires. The negative wellbeing effect is valued at A$52,300 per annum; corresponding to 80% of the average annual income of a full-time employed adult. The satisfaction domain most negatively affected is how safe the person feels, and the group most affected are people with low social support. A delayed adverse mental health effect is also identified. |
| Keywords: | Wildfires, georeferencing, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | I18 I31 Q54 |
| Date: | 2021–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109652&r= |
| By: | Hajdu, Gábor |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how perceived income inequality is associated with subjective well-being. Using four waves of the "Social Inequality" module of the International Social Survey Programme, I show that the higher the level of perceived income inequality is, the lower the individual's perception of her social standing, even if objective income inequality and preferences for the legitimate level of income inequality are controlled for. The results are robust to the measure of perceived inequality and the choice of the outcome variable. The analysis also provides evidence that the estimated association is weaker for individuals with higher income, higher education, and countries without postcommunist history. Overall, the results suggest that not only do objective inequality and perception of fairness have consequences regarding subjective well-being but also the perceived level of income inequality itself. |
| Keywords: | inequality perception,income inequality,subjective social status,subjective well-being |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I31 J31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:926&r= |
| By: | Otrachshenko, Vladimir; Nikolova, Milena; Popova, Olga |
| Abstract: | Communism was a two-edged sword for the trustees of the former regime. Communist party members and their relatives enjoyed status and privileges, while secret police informants were often coerced to work clandestinely and gather compromising materials about friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We examine the long-term consequences of such connections to the communist regime for life satisfaction in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. We also calculate a monetary equivalent of those effects and empirically test mechanisms. The findings underscore that past communist regime connections have a persistent but differential effect on life satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Communist regime,historical legacy,Eastern Europe,former Soviet Union,life satisfaction,elite networks,Communist party,informants |
| JEL: | D60 I31 N00 P26 P36 P52 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:927&r= |
| By: | Otrachshenko, Vladimir (Justus Liebig University, Giessen); Nikolova, Milena (University of Groningen); Popova, Olga (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS)) |
| Abstract: | Communism was a two-edged sword for the trustees of the former regime. Communist party members and their relatives enjoyed status and privileges, while secret police informants were often coerced to work clandestinely and gather compromising materials about friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We examine the long-term consequences of such connections to the communist regime for life satisfaction in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. We also calculate a monetary equivalent of those effects and empirically test mechanisms. The findings underscore that past communist regime connections have a persistent but differential effect on life satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Communist regime, historical legacy, Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union, life satisfaction, elite networks, Communist party, informants |
| JEL: | D60 I31 N00 P26 P36 P52 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14712&r= |
| By: | Bruno Arpino (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università di Firenze); Jordi Gumà (Department of Political and Social Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University); Albert Julià (Department of Sociology, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Life course research emphasizes that health and wellbeing at older ages are influenced by experiences occurred in the previous stages of life. Several studies have focused on fertility and partnership histories and health at older ages, but fewer have examined subjective wellbeing (SWB), especially using a holistic approach. Another strand of the literature demonstrated that non-standard family behaviors negatively influence SWB. We contribute to these strands of the literature by examining the association between non-standardness of family histories and SWB at older ages. We argue that individuals who experienced non-standard trajectories have been exposed to social sanctions throughout their life course which could exert negative long-term influence on their SWB. We apply sequence analysis and optimal matching on retrospective data from the seventh wave of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to calculate the degree of non-standardness of family histories between age 15 and 49. Subseuently, we estimate linear regression models to assess the association between non-standardness of family histories and older people's SWB. Our results show a negative association between non-standardness of family histories and SWB, which is stronger for lower educated individuals and in Southern European countries. |
| Keywords: | Fertility histories; Partnership histories; subjective wellbeing; older people; SHARE. |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2021_16&r= |