Expropriation, money, and happiness: the impact of state theft in Russia

Steven B. Caudill (), João Ricardo Faria (), Franklin Mixon and Elliott H. Young ()
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Steven B. Caudill: Florida Atlantic University
João Ricardo Faria: Florida Atlantic University
Elliott H. Young: Smith & Nephew

Empirical Economics, 2024, vol. 66, issue 2, No 1, 483-501

Abstract: Abstract The historically high prevalence of property extraction in transition nations provides a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of institutional economics and the economics of happiness. This study examines how instances of prior property confiscation affect the self-reported quality of life following political-economic transition in Russia during the early 1990s. Using retrospective data from the Social Stratification in Eastern Europe after 1989 project, we estimate both traditional ordered logit models and random-effects ordered logit models, the latter of which addresses clustering of respondents by region of the country. Our results indicate that prior property confiscation experiences lead to a gap between the probabilities of realizing the extreme values of life satisfaction of 21.1–26.5%-points, with prior property confiscation experiences decreasing (increasing) the probability of greater (lesser) life satisfaction.

Keywords: Happiness; Life satisfaction; Property rights; Confiscation; Expropriation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 J24 P2 P26 P31 P36 Z12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s00181-023-02466-y

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