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What contributes to life satisfaction in transitional Romania?

Author

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  • Andrén, Daniela

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

  • Martinsson, Peter

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

This paper analyzes life satisfaction in Romania in 2001, 12 years after the collapse of communism and the beginning of the transition into a market economy. Using a survey of 1770 individuals, we find that our results are very similar to studies in Western Europe and the US. Life satisfaction increases with housing standard, health status, economic situation, education, trusting other people, and living in the countryside, and decreases with rising unemployment. However, life satisfaction is lower than in Western countries with about 75% of the people in the sample being not at all satisfied or quite dissatisfied with their life in general. A policy discussion concludes the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrén, Daniela & Martinsson, Peter, 2003. "What contributes to life satisfaction in transitional Romania?," Working Papers in Economics 111, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0111
    Note: Published in Review of Development Economics, 2006, Vol 10, pp. 59-70.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Selezneva, Ekaterina, 2011. "Surveying transitional experience and subjective well-being: Income, work, family," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 139-157, June.
    2. Julie Litchfield & Barry Reilly & Mario Veneziani, 2009. "How Happy are the Albanians: an Empirical ANALYSIS OF LIFE SATISFACTION," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1065, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    3. Stefano Bartolini & Małgorzata Mikucka & Francesco Sarracino, 2017. "Money, Trust and Happiness in Transition Countries: Evidence from Time Series," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 87-106, January.
    4. Demoussis, Michael & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2008. "Analysis of domain satisfactions: Evidence from a panel of Greek women," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1347-1362, August.
    5. Mitrut, Andreea & Wolff, François-Charles, 2011. "Do private and public transfers received affect life satisfaction? Evidence from Romania," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 969-979.
    6. Russell Smyth & Ingrid Nielsen & Qingguo Zhai & Tiemin Liu & Yin Liu & C.Y. Tang & Zhihong Wang & Zuxiang Wang & Juyong Zhang, 2008. "Environmental Surroundings And Personal Well-Being In Urban China," Monash Economics Working Papers 32/08, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    7. Smyth, Russell & Mishra, Vinod & Qian, Xiaolei, 2008. "The Environment and Well-Being in Urban China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 547-555, December.
    8. Nazim N. Habibov, 2011. "Self‐perceived social stratification in low‐income transitional countries," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(1), pages 5-22, January.
    9. Hayo, Bernd, 2007. "Happiness in transition: An empirical study on Eastern Europe," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 204-221, June.
    10. Cancho,Cesar A. & Davalos,Maria Eugenia & Sanchez,Carolina, 2015. "Why so gloomy ? perceptions of economic mobility in Europe and Central Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7519, The World Bank.
    11. Pamela Abbott & Claire Wallace & Roger Sapsford, 2011. "Surviving the Transformation: Social Quality in Central Asia and the Caucuses," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 199-223, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    general life satisfaction; subjective well-being; domain specific satisfaction; Romania; transition economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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