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Money, Trust and Happiness in Transition Countries: Evidence from Time Series

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Listed author(s):
  • BARTOLINI Stefano
  • MIKUCKA Malgorzata
  • SARRACINO Francesco

Abstract

The evolution over time of subjective well-being (SWB) in transition countries exhibit some peculiarities: greater variations which are more strongly correlated with the trends of GDP relative to other countries. What is the possible role of social trust in predicting such variations? We compare the capacity of the trends of GDP and of social trust to predict the trends of SWB. We find that the strength of the relationship between social trust and SWB over the medium-term is comparable to that of GDP. Our conclusion is that in the medium-term, even in countries considered as an extreme case of relevance of material concerns for well-being, social trust is a powerful predictor of the evolution over time of SWB. However, in the short run the relationship between social trust and SWB does not hold and GDP stands out as the only significant correlate of SWB.

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Paper provided by LISER in its series LISER Working Paper Series with number 2012-04.

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Length: 32 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2012
Handle: RePEc:irs:cepswp:2012-04
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Keywords: Easterlin paradox; GDP; economic growth; subjective well-being; happiness; life satisfaction; social capital; time-series; short run; transition countries;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
  • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
  • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
  • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
  • P27 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Systems and Transition Economies - - - Performance and Prospects
  • P50 - Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General

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Cited by:

  1. Nikolova, Milena & Roman, Monica & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2015. "Left Behind but Doing Good? Civic Engagement in Two Post-Socialist Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 9540, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Jirí Vecerník & Martina Mysíková, 2014. "(Un)happy transition? Subjective Well-being in European Countries in 1991-2008 and Beyond," WIFO Working Papers 467, WIFO.
  3. Jiří Večerník, 2012. "Subjektivní indikátory blahobytu: přístupy, měření a data
    [Subjective Indicators of Well-Being: Approaches, Measurements and Data]    ," Politická ekonomie, University of Economics, Prague, vol. 2012(3), pages 291-308.
  4. Nikolova, Milena, 2015. "Minding the Happiness Gap: Political Institutions and Perceived Quality of Life in Transition," IZA Discussion Papers 9484, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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