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The Value of Reunification in Germany: An Analysis of Changes in Life Satisfaction Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics Frijters, Paul (Tinbergen Institute, Free University Amsterdam)
Haisken-DeNew, John P. (DIW, Berlin and IZA, Bonn)
Shields, Michael A. () (Department of Economics, University of Melbourne and IZA, Bonn)
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registered author(s):
We quantify the value of changes in life circumstances in Germany following reunification. To this end, we develop and implement a fixed-effect estimator for ordinal life satisfaction in the German Socio-Economic Panel. We find strong negative effects on life satisfaction from being recently fired, losing a spouse through either death or separation and time spent in hospital, whilst we find strong positive effects from income and marriage. Using a new causal decomposition technique, we find that East Germans experienced a continued improvement in life satisfaction after 1990 to which increased household incomes contributed around 12%. Most of the increase is explained by improved average circumstances, such as public services. For West Germans, we find virtually no change in satisfaction between 1991 and 1999.
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number
419.
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Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2002Date of revision:
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Keywords: Life satisfaction ; German reunification ; random and fixed-effects ; panel models ; causal decomposition ; Other versions of this item:
Paper Shields, Michael & Paul Frijters & John P Haisken-DeNew, 2003.
"The Value of Reunification in Germany: An Analysis of Changes in Life Satisfaction ,"
Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003
186, Royal Economic Society.
[Downloadable!] Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields & John P. Haisken-DeNew, 2004.
"The value of reunification in Germany; An analysis of changes in life satisfaction? ,"
Paul Frijters Discussion Papers
2004-6, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
[Downloadable!] Paul Frijters & John P. Haisken-DeNew & Michale A. Shields, 2001.
"The Value of Reunification in Germany: An Analysis of Changes in Life Satisfaction ,"
Department of Economics - Working Papers Series
828, The University of Melbourne.
[Downloadable!] Find related papers by JEL classification: Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports :
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references 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.)
Paul Frijters & John P. Haisken-DeNew & Michael Shields, 2003.
"Estimating The Causal Effect of Income on Health: Evidence from Post Reunification East Germany ,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
465, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
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Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, 2002.
"Income and Well-being ,"
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
02-019/3, Tinbergen Institute.
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Luis Diaz-Serrano, 2006.
"Housing Satisfaction, Homeownership and Housing Mobility: A Panel Data Analysis for Twelve EU Countries ,"
IZA Discussion Papers
2318, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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Mark Wooden & Bruce Headey, 2004.
"The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being ,"
Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series
wp2004n03, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
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Headey, Bruce & Wooden, Mark, 2004.
"The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being ,"
IZA Discussion Papers
1032, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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"The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being ,"
The Economic Record ,
The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 80(s1), pages S24-S33, 09.
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Claudia Senik, 2003.
"What Can we Learn from Subjective Data ? The Case of Income and Well-Being ,"
DELTA Working Papers
2003-06, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure), revised Oct 2003.
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Mike Shields & Mark Wooden, 2003.
"Investigating the Role of Neighbourhood Characteristics in Determining Life Satisfaction ,"
Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series
wp2003n24, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
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"Que nous apprennent les données subjectives ? Une application au lien entre revenu et bien-être ,"
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2002-20, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
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