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Curtailment of Civil Liberties and Subjective Life Satisfaction

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  • Lisa Windsteiger
  • Michael Ahlheim
  • Kai A. Konrad

Abstract

This analysis focuses on the freedom suspension policy choices in the context of the 2020 pandemic crisis in March and April 2020 in Germany. It uses reactance as a measure of the intensity of a preference for freedom to explain the variation in the observed subjective life satisfaction loss. The pandemic crisis is likely to reduce life satisfaction for a number of reasons, but suspension of basic freedom rights emerges as an important factor. Differences in reactance from the lowest to the highest decile lead to an additional loss in subjective life satisfaction of 0.2 points, which is roughly 17% of the average loss in life satisfaction.

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  • Lisa Windsteiger & Michael Ahlheim & Kai A. Konrad, 2020. "Curtailment of Civil Liberties and Subjective Life Satisfaction," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2020-05, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpi:wpaper:tax-mpg-rps-2020-05
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    Cited by:

    1. Kerim Peren Arin & Juan A. Lacomba & Francisco Lagos & Deni Mazrekaj & Marcel Thum, 2021. "Misperceptions and Fake News during the Covid-19 Pandemic," CESifo Working Paper Series 9066, CESifo.
    2. Michael Ahlheim & Stefan Bruckmeyer & Kai A. Konrad & Lisa Windsteiger, 2020. "Verlorenes Glück — Zufriedenheitsverluste in der Corona-Krise [Lost Happiness — Loss of Life Satisfaction in the Corona Crisis]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(8), pages 586-590, August.
    3. Kerim Peren Arin & Juan A. Lacomba & Francisco Lagos & Ana I. Moro-Egido & Marcel Thum, 2021. "Socio-Economic Attitudes in the Era of Social Distancing and Lockdowns," CESifo Working Paper Series 8845, CESifo.
    4. Ahlheim, Michael & Kim, In Woo & Vuong, Duy Thanh, 2022. "The return of happiness: Resilience in times of pandemic," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 03-2022, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    5. Kai A. Konrad, 2023. "The Political Economy of Paternalism," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2019-17, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.

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