So far economic analysis of unemployment has neglected social norms to a large extent. Here the empirical relevance of the social norm to live off one's own income is studied with regard to unemployed people's behaviour and subjective well-being. The strength of the social work norm is measured in terms of a national referendum on the reduction of unemployment benefits in Switzerland. The results indicate that a stronger social norm to work significantly increases the willingness to accept a new job whereas it decreases job searchers' satisfaction with life.
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Volume (Year): 138 (2002) Issue (Month): III (September) Pages: 293-316 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
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Find related papers by JEL classification: I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994.
"Unhappiness and Unemployment,"
Economic Journal,
Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-59, May.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Edward L. Glaeser & Jose Scheinkman, 2000.
"Non-Market Interactions,"
NBER Working Papers
8053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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