Poverty and Well-Being: Panel Evidence from Germany

Andrew Clark, Conchita D’Ambrosio () and Simone Ghislandi ()
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Conchita D’Ambrosio: Università di Milano-Bicocca, DIW Berlin and Econpubblica
Simone Ghislandi: Università Bocconi and Econpubblica
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Conchita D'Ambrosio

No 291, Working Papers from ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality

Abstract: We consider the link between poverty and subjective well-being, and focus in particular on the role of time. We use panel data on 42,500 individuals living in Germany from 1992 to 2010 to uncover four empirical relationships. First, life satisfaction falls with both the incidence and intensity of contemporaneous poverty. There is no evidence of adaptation within a poverty spell: poverty starts bad and stays bad in terms of subjective well-being. Third, poverty scars: those who have been poor in the past report lower life satisfaction today, even when out of poverty. Last, the order of poverty spells matters: for a given number of poverty spells, satisfaction is lower when the spells are concatenated: poverty persistence reduces well-being. These effects differ by population subgroups.

Keywords: Income; Poverty; Subjective well-being; SOEP. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Poverty and Well-Being: Panel Evidence from Germany (2013)
Working Paper: Poverty and Well-Being: Panel Evidence from Germany (2013)
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