How much should we trust life satisfaction data? Evidence from the Life in Transition Survey

Elena Nikolova and Peter Sanfey

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2016, vol. 44, issue 3, 720-731

Abstract: We analyse responses to two similar life satisfaction questions asked at different points in the same wave of a major cross-country household survey covering the transition region, Turkey and five Western European countries. We show that while the answers to the two questions are broadly consistent for most people, the responses for some groups differ significantly. Respondents of a lower socio-economic status and with a more favourable parental background show systematically higher levels of self-reported satisfaction in the later question. We also find evidence that responses to the later question are influenced by preceding questions on social capital. Our results have important implications for the design and length of household surveys that contain subjective questions.

Keywords: Life satisfaction; Measurement; Transition region (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D6 I31 P36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:44:y:2016:i:3:p:720-731

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2015.11.003

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