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The Impact of War on Happiness: the Case of Ukraine

Author

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  • Tom Coupe

    (Kyiv School of Economics)

  • Maksym Obrizan

    (Kyiv School of Economics)

Abstract

In this paper, we study how war affects happiness using data from the on-going conflict in Ukraine. Using a difference-in-difference design, we find that the average level of happiness declined substantially in zones that experience war directly, with the effect of directly experiencing war on the happiness of an individual being roughly comparable to the loss of happiness a relatively well-off person would experience if he/she were to become a poor person. At the same time, despite the fact that the war in the East dominates the local media in Ukraine, respondents in other regions of Ukraine are basically as happy as they were before the war. We discuss the implications of this finding for the duration of the war and for the expectations regarding the management of veterans.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Coupe & Maksym Obrizan, 2016. "The Impact of War on Happiness: the Case of Ukraine," Discussion Papers 58, Kyiv School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:kse:dpaper:58
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    5. Gunes Gokmen & Evgeny Yakovlev, 2017. "War and Well-Being in Transition: Russo-Georgian Conflict as a Natural Experiment," Working Papers w0243, New Economic School (NES).
    6. Anastasia, Giacomo & Boeri, Tito & Kudlyak, Marianna & Zholud, Oleksandr, 2022. "The Labor Market in Ukraine: Rebuild Better," CEPR Discussion Papers 17769, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Martijn J. Burger & Ruut Veenhoven, 2023. "Editorial: Special Issue on Subjective Well-being and Mental Health in the Early Days of COVID-19," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-8, February.
    8. Djankov, Simeon & Nikolova, Elena, 2018. "Communism as the unhappy coming," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 708-721.
    9. Conlon, Thomas & Corbet, Shaen & Goodell, John W. & Hou, Yang (Greg) & Oxley, Les, 2024. "Financial market information flows when counteracting rogue states: The indirect effects of targeted sanction packages," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 32-62.
    10. Gokmen, Gunes & Yakovlev, Evgeny, 2018. "War and well-being in transition: Evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 788-799.
    11. Maksym Obrizan, 2022. "Poverty, Unemployment and Displacement in Ukraine: three months into the war," Papers 2211.05628, arXiv.org.
    12. Obrizan, Maksym, 2017. "Does EU membership prevent crowding out of public health care? Evidence from 28 transition countries," MPRA Paper 81708, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. John F. Helliwell & Haifang Huang & Shun Wang, 2020. "Happiness and the Quality of Government," NBER Working Papers 26840, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Osiichuk, Maryna & Shepotylo, Oleksandr, 2020. "Conflict and well-being of civilians: The case of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    15. Obrizan, Maksym, 2017. "Transition gap in self-rated health," MPRA Paper 81151, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Tymofii Brik & Maksym Obrizan, 2020. "Job market effects of COVID-19 on urban Ukrainian households," Papers 2007.15704, arXiv.org.
    17. Goli, Srinivas & Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Rammohan, Anu & Vu, Loan, 2022. "Conflicts and son preference: Micro-level evidence from 58 countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    18. Swee, Eik Leong & Zhan, Haikun & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2021. "Do perceptions of economic well-being predict the onset of war and peace?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    19. Maksym Obrizan, 2019. "Violent conflict and unhappiness: evidence from the 2016 ‘Life in Transition' III surve," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 192-199.
    20. Tamilina, Larysa, 2024. "The Analysis of Life Satisfaction Predictors Among Ukrainian Students During Times of Conflict," MPRA Paper 119915, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Gu, Xin & Li, Hao & Peng, Langchuan, 2022. "The anti-domestic violence law and women's welfare: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1-16.
    22. Luo, Chunyang & Yang, Fucheng & Pan, Lu, 2024. "Exploring the nexus between natural resources, environmental pollution, external conflicts, financial stability and human development: Evidence from OECD nations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    23. Tom Coupé & Maksym Obrizan, 2024. "War and Happiness," Working Papers in Economics 24/06, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    happiness; war; Ukraine;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

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