Equal Before Luck? Well-Being Consequences of Personal Deprivation and Transition

Joan Costa-Font (), Nici?ska, Anna () and Melcior Rosello-Roig ()
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Joan Costa-Font: London School of Economics
Nici?ska, Anna: University of Warsaw
Melcior Rosello-Roig: University of Rome

No 17780, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Past trauma resulting from personal life shocks, especially during periods of particular volatility, such as regime transition (or regime change), can give rise to significant long-lasting effects on people's health and well-being. We study this question by drawing on longitudinal and retrospective data to examine the effect of past exposure to major individual-level shocks (specifically hunger, persecution, dispossession, and exceptional stress) on current measures of an individual's health and mental well-being. We study the effect of the timing of the personal shocks, alongside the additional effect of 'institutional uncertainty' of regime change in post-communist European countries. Our findings are as follows: First, we document evidence of the detrimental effects of shocks on a series of relevant health and well-being outcomes. Second, we show evidence of more pronounced detrimental consequences of such personal shocks experienced by individuals living in formerly communist countries (which accrue to about 8% and 10% in the case of hunger and persecution, respectively) than in non-communist countries. The effects are robust and take place in addition to the direct effects of regime change and shocks.

Keywords: transition shocks; Soviet communism; later life health; health care system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 H79 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
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