Sociability, Altruism and Subjective Well-Being

Leonardo Becchetti, Luisa Corrado and Pierluigi Conzo

No 270, CEIS Research Paper from Tor Vergata University, CEIS

Abstract: We provide non experimental evidence of the relevance of sociability on subjective wellbeing by investigating the determinants of life satisfaction on a large sample of Europeans aged above 50. We document that voluntary work, religious attendance, helping friends/neighbours and participation to community-related organizations affect positively and significantly life satisfaction. We illustrate the different impact that some sociability variables have on eudaimonic versus cognitive measures of subjective wellbeing. Our empirical findings discriminate among other regarding and self-regarding preferences as rationales explaining such behaviour. We document that different combinations between actions and motivations have different impact on life satisfaction thereby providing support for the relevance of these specific “contingent goods” and to the literature of procedural utility. Our findings are confirmed in robustness checks including refinements of the dependent variable, instrumental variables and sensitivity analysis on departures from the exogeneity assumption.

Keywords: sociability; altruism; other-regarding activities; other regarding motivations; life satisfaction; subjective well-being. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 D13 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2013-03-29, Revised 2013-03-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-hap, nep-neu and nep-soc
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Sociability, altruism and well-being (2017)
Working Paper: Sociability, Altruism and Subjective Well-Being (2014)
Working Paper: Sociability, Altruism and Subjective Well-Being (2013)
Working Paper: Sociability, Altruism and Subjective Well-Being (2013)
Working Paper: Sociability, Altruism and Subjective Well-Being (2013)
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