Putting the Economy First: or Does Postmodernization Really Matter?

In recent years, there has been a strong tendency for the politicians of Western nations to make issues of economic policy making their first priority. Emerging evidence from the economics discipline, which shows a close association between subjective well‐being and other macroeconomic variables such as unemployment and inflation, suggests that this priority ordering of politicians may well be one which is functional from an electoral viewpoint. However, recent research by Ronald Inglehart on the development of ‘postmaterialist’ values challenges the continuing electoral relevance of an economics‐first approach to policy making by suggesting that, in advanced societies, mass publics are exercised more by quality of life concerns than by issues of economic affluence. Here we use Eurobarometer data for 12 EU nations to explore the nature of the linkage between economic policy outcomes and levels of popular satisfaction in both economically advanced and less advanced societies. Our findings suggest that affluence is not the only economic determinant of subjective well‐being in these countries and that, contrary to Inglehart's thesis, the growth of the economy impacts on subjective well‐being in rich and poor nations alike.