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Subjective well-being and life events. Tineke de Jonge New Directions in Welfare Congress, Paris, 7 July 2011. Two general subjective questions:. How satisfied are you with your life? Do you consider yourself happy?. How satisfied are you with your life? Do you consider yourself happy?.
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Subjective well-being and life events Tineke de Jonge New Directions in Welfare Congress, Paris, 7 July 2011
Two general subjective questions: • How satisfied are you with your life? • Do you consider yourself happy? • How satisfied are you with your life? • Do you consider yourself happy? Short history measurement SWB in the Netherlands • First Quality of Life Survey: 1974 • Domain specific questions
Short history measurement SWB in the Netherlands • Do you consider yourself happy? • Very happy • Happy • Neither happy nor unhappy • Not very happy • Unhappy • How satisfied are you with your life? • Extraordinarily satisfied • Very satisfied • Satisfied • Fairly satisfied • Not very satisfied
Adaptation based theories: • Major life events affect subjective well-being SWB returns to normal after a period of adaptation Theories on well-being Standard assumption in economics: • Higher income higher level of well-being SWB should go up or down with income rise or fall
Social Statistical Database (SSD) Civil register Income register SSD EU-SILC Labour force survey Employment register Unemployment register
Dataset for analyses • Pooled survey data 2001 - 2008 • 59,000 respondents of 20 years and older • Enriched with data Social Statistical Database • Income shocks • Life events
Income shocks Higher income comes with greater happiness Data for analyses • Yearly disposable household income ‘03-’08 from SSD • Price level 2008 • 36,000 respondents
Income shocks Income class Size of income shock
The effect of income shocks on SWB % happy people % satisfied people Income shock present year or year before
Adaptation to changed circumstances Life events from SSD • Change in marital status Marrying Divorcing Being widowed • Change in socio-economic status Starting to work Becoming dependent on benefits (unemployment/disability) Becoming a pensioner
Share of happy people after life event Years past since life event
A change in marital status and SWB Life event Years before life-event Years after life-event
A change in marital status and SWB Life event Years before life-event Years after life-event
A change in socio-economic status and SWB Life event Years before life-event Years after life-event
A change in socio-economic status and SWB Life event Years before life-event Years after life-event
Conclusions • People adapt to circumstances • Our data contain meaningful information • Happiness and satisfaction are assessed differently • People react differently to various types of life events • Changes in SWB are more likely due to life events than to income shocks Thank you for your attention!