Poverty is a Public Bad: Panel Evidence from Subjective Well-being Data

Heinz Welsch and Philipp Biermann

No V-396-16, Working Papers from University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: Previous research has found that subjective well-being (SWB) is lower for individuals classified as being in poverty. Using panel data for 39,239 individuals living in Germany from 2005-2013, we show that people’s SWB is negatively correlated with the state-level poverty ratio while controlling for individual poverty status and poverty intensity. The negative relationship between aggregate poverty and SWB is more salient in the upper segments of the income distribution and is robust to controlling for the rate of unemployment and per capita GDP. The character of poverty as a public bad suggests that poverty alleviation is a matter not only of equity, but of efficiency.

Keywords: poverty; poverty ratio; subjective well-being; public bad; life satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 I31 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2016-11, Revised 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-hme
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Oldenburg Working Peapers V-396-16

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Related works:
Journal Article: Poverty is a Public Bad: Panel Evidence From Subjective Well‐Being Data (2019)
Working Paper: Poverty Is a Public Bad: Panel Evidence from Subjective Well-Being Data (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:old:dpaper:396

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