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The Role of Social Work Norms in Job Searching and Subjective Well-Being

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  • Stutzer, Alois

    (University of Basel)

  • Lalive, Rafael

    (University of Lausanne)

Abstract

Social norms are usually neglected in economics because they are to a large extent enforced through non-market interactions and difficult to isolate empirically. In this paper, we offer a direct measure of the social norm to live off one’s own income and we show that this norm has important economic effects. The stronger the norm, the more quickly unemployed people find a new job. This behavior can be explained by utility differences, probably due to social pressure. Unemployed people are significantly less happy than employed people and their reduction in life satisfaction is the larger, the stronger the norm is.

Suggested Citation

  • Stutzer, Alois & Lalive, Rafael, 2001. "The Role of Social Work Norms in Job Searching and Subjective Well-Being," IZA Discussion Papers 300, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp300
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    duration of unemployment; unemployment; subjective well-being; social norms; Job searching;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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