Lock-downs, Loneliness and Life Satisfaction

Daniel Hamermesh

No 27018, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using the 2012-13 American Time Use Survey, I find that both who people spend time with and how they spend it affect their happiness, adjusted for numerous demographic and economic variables. Satisfaction among married individuals increases most with additional time spent with spouse. Among singles, satisfaction decreases most as more time is spent alone. Assuming that lock-downs constrain married people to spend time solely with their spouses, simulations show that their happiness may have been increased compared to before the lock-downs; but sufficiently large losses of work time and income reverse this inference. Simulations demonstrate clearly that, assuming lock-downs impose solitude on singles, their happiness was reduced, reductions that are made more severe by income and work losses.

JEL-codes: I12 I31 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-hap, nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-soc
Note: EH LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

Published as Review of Economics of the Household, Vol 18, December 2020, pp.983-1000.

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Working Paper: Lockdowns, Loneliness and Life Satisfaction (2020)
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