Are Regional Differences in Utility Eliminated over Time?: Evidence from Germany

David Maddison and Katrin Rehdanz

No 16, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: Hedonic theory assumes that changes in land prices and wage rates eliminate the utility advantages of differing locations. Using happiness data from the German socio-economic panel this paper empirically tests whether regional utility differences exist and if so whether utility levels show any tendency to converge over time. Empirical analysis reveals substantial differences in utility over different regions of Germany. Analysing a panel of data indicates that even if individual utility levels are at any one moment in disequilibrium they are rapidly converging over Germany for all types of individuals.

Keywords: Convergence; Hedonic Analysis; Happiness; Migration; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 p.
Date: 2007
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-upt
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp16

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