What Buys Happiness? Analyzing Trends in Subjective Well-Being in 15 European Countries, 1973-2002

Christian Bjørnskov, Nabanita Datta Gupta and Peder Pedersen

No 1716, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Trends in life satisfaction are examined across 15 European countries employing a modified version of Kendall's Tau. Analyses show that GDP growth relative to growth in the preceding period is a significant determinant of the trends; the same holds for the growth in life expectancy while the contemporaneous growth in the current account balance exerts a positive influence. Relative unemployment growth becomes significant when interacted with a measure of the long-run political ideology of the median voter. The effects of relative GDP growth vary with the political ideology variable.

Keywords: subjective well-being; economic factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2005-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-eec, nep-ltv, nep-pol and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Journal of Happiness Studies, 2008, 9 (2), 317-330

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