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Quantifying the Psychological Costs of Unemployment : The Role of Permanent Income

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Author Info
Andreas Knabe
Steffen Rätzel

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Abstract

Unemployment causes significant losses in the quality of life. In addition to reducing individual income, it also creates non-pecuniary, psychological costs. We quantify these non-pecuniary losses by using the life satisfaction approach. In contrast to previous studies, we apply Friedman’s (1957) permanent income hypothesis by distinguishing between temporary and permanent effects of income changes. This allows us to account for intertemporal spillovers of income compensations. Our results show that, without this distinction, the non-pecuniary costs of unemployment are overestimated by roughly one-third. Nevertheless, the non-pecuniary costs of unemployment with this modified quantification method still amount to 2.3 (1.5) times the pure pecuniary costs of unemployment for men (women).This confirms the high value of work for life satisfaction.

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Paper provided by DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in its series SOEPpapers with number 32.

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Length: 16 p.
Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp32

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Keywords: unemployment happiness life satisfaction permanent income

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - General
D91 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving

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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.:
  1. Martin Browning & Annamaria Lusardi, 1996. "Household Saving: Micro Theories and Micro Facts," Discussion Papers 96-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
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  2. Gerlach, Knut & Stephan, Gesine, 1996. "A paper on unhappiness and unemployment in Germany," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 325-330, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Bernard M. S. van Praag & Barbara E. Baarsma, 2005. "Using Happiness Surveys to Value Intangibles: The Case of Airport Noise," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(500), pages 224-246, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. DeJuan, Joseph P. & J. Seater, John, 1999. "The permanent income hypothesis:: Evidence from the consumer expenditure survey," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 351-376, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2004. "Well-being over time in Britain and the USA," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1359-1386, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Andrew E. Clark, 2003. "Unemployment as a Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 289-322, April. [Downloadable!]
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  7. van Praag, B. M. S. & Frijters, P. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., 2003. "The anatomy of subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 29-49, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
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  9. Rehdanz, Katrin & Maddison, David, 2005. "Climate and happiness," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 111-125, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    • Katrin Rehdanz & David J. Maddison, 2003. "Climate and Happiness," Working Papers FNU-20, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Apr 2003. [Downloadable!]
  10. Costas Meghir, 2004. "A Retrospective on Friedman's Theory of Permanent Income," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(496), pages F293-F306, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Clark, Andrew E & Georgellis, Yannis & Sanfey, Peter, 2001. "Scarring: The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 221-41, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger & Alois Stutzer, 2004. "Valuing Public Goods: The Life Satisfaction Approach," CREMA Working Paper Series 2004-11, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA). [Downloadable!]
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  13. Welsch, Heinz, 2002. "Preferences over Prosperity and Pollution: Environmental Valuation Based on Happiness Surveys," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(4), pages 473-94.
  14. Joseph P. Dejuan & John J. Seater, 2006. "A Simple Test of Friedman's Permanent Income Hypothesis," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(289), pages 27-46, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-59, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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.)

  1. Eva M. Berger, 2007. "The Power of Monthly Data in the GSOEP : How the Chernobyl Catastrophe Affected People's Life Satisfaction and Environmental Concerns," SOEPpapers 73, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
  2. Francesco Figari & Herwig Immervoll & Horacio Levy & Holly Sutherland, 2007. "Inequalities within Couples : Market Incomes and the Role of Taxes and Benefits in Europe," SOEPpapers 74, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
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  3. Eva M. Berger, 2008. "A Note on the High Stability of Happiness : The Minimal Effects of a Nuclear Catastrophe on Life Satisfaction," SOEPpapers 109, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
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