Lags and leads in life satisfaction: a test of the baseline hypothesis

Andrew Clark, Ed Diener, Yannis Georgellis () and Richard E. Lucas

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We look for evidence of habituation in twenty waves of German panel data: do individuals, after life and labour market events, tend to return to some baseline level of well-being? Although the strongest life satisfaction effect is often at the time of the event, we find significant lag and lead effects. We cannot reject the hypothesis of complete adaptation to marriage, divorce, widowhood, birth of child, and layoff. However, there is little evidence of adaptation to unemployment. Men are somewhat more affected by labour market events (unemployment and layoffs) than are women, but in general the patterns of anticipation and adaptation are remarkably similar by sex.

Keywords: life satisfaction; anticipation; adaptation; baseline satisfaction; labour market and life events (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J12 J13 J63 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2007-11
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/19656/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Lags And Leads in Life Satisfaction: a Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2008)
Journal Article: Lags And Leads in Life Satisfaction: a Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2008)
Working Paper: Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2008)
Working Paper: Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2008)
Working Paper: Lags and leads in life satisfaction: A test of the baseline hypothesis (2008)
Working Paper: Lags and leads in life satisfaction: A test of the baseline hypothesis (2008)
Working Paper: Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2007)
Working Paper: Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2006)
Working Paper: Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2003)
Working Paper: Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction: A Test of the Baseline Hypothesis (2003)
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