Subjective Well-Being: Weather Matters; Climate Doesn't

Robert Metcalfe (), John Feddersen and Mark Wooden

No 627, Economics Series Working Papers from University of Oxford, Department of Economics

Abstract: We investigate the impact of short-term weather and long-term climate on self-reported life satisfaction using panel data. We find robust evidence that day-to-day weather variation impacts life satisfaction by a similar magnitude to acquiring a mild disability. Utilizing two sources of variation in the cognitive complexity of satisfaction questions, we present evidence that weather bias arises because of the cognitive challenge of reporting life satisfaction. Consistent with past studies, we detect a relationship between long-term climate and life satisfaction without individual fixed effects. This relationship is not robust to individual fixed effects, suggesting climate does not directly influence life satisfaction.

Keywords: Life satisfaction; Subjective well-being; Climate change; Weather (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 C81 C83 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-11-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-hap, nep-ltv, nep-neu and nep-res
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Subjective Well-Being: Weather Matters; Climate Doesn't (2012)
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