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Life Satisfaction in Germany After Reunification: Additional Insights on the Pattern of Convergence

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  • Petrunyk Inna
  • Pfeifer Christian

    (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany)

Abstract

The authors update previous findings on the total East-West gap in overall life satisfaction and its trend by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1992 to 2013. Additionally, the East-West gap and its trend are separately analyzed for men and women as well as for four birth cohorts. The results indicate that reported life satisfaction is on average significantly lower in East than in West German federal states and that part of the raw East-West gap is due to differences in household income and unemployment status. The conditional East-West gap decreased in the first years after the German reunification and remained quite stable and sizeable since the mid-nineties. The results further indicate that gender differences are small. But the East-West gap is significantly smaller and shows a trend towards convergence for younger birth cohorts.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrunyk Inna & Pfeifer Christian, 2016. "Life Satisfaction in Germany After Reunification: Additional Insights on the Pattern of Convergence," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 236(2), pages 217-239, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:236:y:2016:i:1:p:217-239:n:1
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    Cited by:

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    2. Walther, Lena & Fuchs, Lukas M. & Schupp, Jürgen & Scheve, Christian von, 2020. "Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees : Evidence from a Large-Scale German Survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22, pages 903-913.
    3. Arman Canatay & Leonel Prieto & Muhammad Ruhul Amin, 2023. "Integrating “Neoliberal-Turn” and “Social-Turn” Constructs in Examining Sustainable Development and Happiness and Life Satisfaction: A Global-, Country Cluster-, and Country-Level Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-56, June.
    4. Michael C. Burda & Mark Weder, 2017. "The Economics of German Unification after Twenty-five Years: Lessons for Korea," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2017-009, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    5. Vishal Chandr Jaunky & Jamiil Jeetoo & Shreya Rampersad, 2020. "Happiness and Consumption in Mauritius: An Exploratory Study of Socio-Economic Dimensions, Basic Needs, Luxuries and Personality Traits," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(7), pages 2377-2403, October.
    6. Martina Mysíková & Tomáš Želinský & Thesia I. Garner & Jiří Večerník, 2019. "Subjective Perceptions of Poverty and Objective Economic Conditions: Czechia and Slovakia a Quarter Century After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 523-550, September.
    7. Philipp Biermann & Heinz Welsch, 2019. "Changing Conditions, Persistent Mentality: An Anatomy of East German Unhappiness, 1990-2016," Working Papers V-422-19, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised May 2019.
    8. Yi-Bin Chiu & Zhen Wang & Xu Ye, 2023. "Household gift-giving consumption and subjective well-being: evidence from rural China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1453-1472, December.
    9. Biermann, Philipp & Welsch, Heinz, 2021. "An anatomy of East German unhappiness: The role of circumstances and mentality, 1990–2018," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1-18.
    10. Martin Wetzel & Jonathan Wörn & Bettina Hünteler & Karsten Hank, 2022. "Heterogeneity in Trajectories of Life Satisfaction After Reunification: The Role of Individual Resources and Life Stage in Former East Germany," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 1103-1123, February.
    11. Pfeifer Christian & Smolny Werner & Wagner Joachim, 2016. "25 Years of German Reunification," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 236(2), pages 153-155, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Germany; happiness; life satisfaction; reunification; trends;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
    • P46 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

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