The Impact of War on Happiness: the Case of Ukraine

Tom Coupé and Maksym Obrizan

No 58, Discussion Papers from Kyiv School of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we study how war affects happiness using data from the on-going conflict in Ukraine. Using a difference-in-difference design, we find that the average level of happiness declined substantially in zones that experience war directly, with the effect of directly experiencing war on the happiness of an individual being roughly comparable to the loss of happiness a relatively well-off person would experience if he/she were to become a poor person. At the same time, despite the fact that the war in the East dominates the local media in Ukraine, respondents in other regions of Ukraine are basically as happy as they were before the war. We discuss the implications of this finding for the duration of the war and for the expectations regarding the management of veterans.

Keywords: happiness; war; Ukraine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I3 N44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-hap and nep-tra
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The impact of war on happiness: The case of Ukraine (2016)
Working Paper: The Impact of War on Happiness: the Case of Ukraine (2016)
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