How Did Subjective Well-Being Change in Hungary Due to the Economic Crisis?

The paper examines how the subjective interpretation of well-being changed as a result of the global economic crisis by comparing subjective assessment of poverty in 2007 and 2011. The paper focuses on Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen County, Hungary. It uses the results of two datasets, collected with the methods of systematic data collection before and after the beginning of the economic crisis. The paper concludes that the global economic crisis did not modify the basic values of the adult population and therefore the basic nature of the interpretation of poverty (this latter was basically related to material values before and after the beginning of the economic crisis) and that the socialization hypothesis is true (values are not adjusted to socioeconomic environment in the short run). Some slight changes, however, can be found in the subjective interpretation of poverty as some material values (like demographic circumstances) became less important, while others (like financial conditions) became more significant from 2007 to 2011. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016