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Education, income and happiness: panel evidence for the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Felix R. FitzRoy

    (University of St Andrews)

  • Michael A. Nolan

    (University of Hull)

Abstract

Using panel data from the BHPS and its Understanding Society extension, we study life satisfaction (LS) and income over nearly two decades, for samples split by education, and age, to our knowledge for the first time. The highly educated went from lowest to highest LS, though their average income was always higher. In spite of rapid income growth up to 2008/2009, the less educated showed no rise in LS, while highly educated LS rose after the crash despite declining real income. In panel LS regressions with individual fixed effects, none of the income variables was significant for the highly educated.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix R. FitzRoy & Michael A. Nolan, 2020. "Education, income and happiness: panel evidence for the UK," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 2573-2592, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:58:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s00181-018-1586-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-018-1586-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pugno, Maurizio, 2021. "Italy’s parabolas of GDP and subjective well-being: the role of education," MPRA Paper 107948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Felix R. FitzRoy & Michael A. Nolan, 2022. "Income Status and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 233-256, January.
    3. Shanshan Liu & Feng Yu & Cheng Yan, 2023. "The Impact of Higher Education Expansion on Subjective Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Chinese Social Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.
    4. Paul Fisher & Omar Hussein, 2023. "Understanding Society: the income data," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 377-397, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Income; Economic growth; Life satisfaction; Easterlin paradox;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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