Financial insecurity and subjective well-being. Europe in crossnational perspective

Using the EU-SILC 2008 module on over-indebtedness and financial exclusion, this paper analyses how perceived future-orientated economic insecurity alters individual subjective well-being measured as self-assessed health, once controlling for past and current financial situation in a range of European countries. Those effects differ by gender and by country. Our results also support the hypothesis suggesting that country characteristics explain a larger part of the unknown variability of individual levels of SAH than individual-household characteristics. Thus, our findings might be of help for politicians and policymakers in designing the most effective policies intended to alleviate the individual welfare costs of perceived financial insecurity provoked by upcoming business-cycle downturns, like the current COVID-19-triggered economic slowdown.