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Self-assessed well-being and economic rank in South Africa

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  • Dorrit Posel

Abstract

This study explores subjective measures of well-being in South Africa collected in the first two waves of the National Income Dynamics Study. These subjective measures include individual life satisfaction, current self-assessed economic rank and expected economic rank in the future. The paper describes how the distributions of these measures have changed over the course of the panel and it investigates the relationship between life satisfaction and perceived economic rank in a multivariate context, controlling for individual fixed effects. The panel data suggest a leftward shift in the distribution of life satisfaction over the two waves. Moreover, the majority of adults did not perceive their economic rank as having improved and they reported lower expectations of future upward economic mobility. Perceptions of current and future economic rank are key correlates of life satisfaction, findings that remain robust to controls for unobserved individual heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorrit Posel, 2014. "Self-assessed well-being and economic rank in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 51-64, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:deveza:v:31:y:2014:i:1:p:51-64
    DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2013.851020
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    Cited by:

    1. Martinique Cordeiro & Prudence Kwenda & Miracle Ntuli, 2020. "Crime and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from South Africa - Gauteng Province," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 715-736, July.
    2. Byela Tibesigwa & Martine Visser & Brennan Hodkinson, 2016. "Effects of Objective and Subjective Income Comparisons on Subjective Wellbeing," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 361-389, August.
    3. Verma, Pranay & Sinha, Neena, 2018. "Integrating perceived economic wellbeing to technology acceptance model: The case of mobile based agricultural extension service," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 207-216.
    4. Dorrit Posel & Janet Bruce-Brand, 2021. "‘Only a Housewife?’ Subjective Well-Being and Homemaking in South Africa," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 323-342, January.

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