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Heaven knows I’m miserable now: overeducation and reduced life satisfaction

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  • Piper, Alan T.

Abstract

This study is an investigation into relative overeducation and life satisfaction using British longitudinal data. The focus is on young people rather than the whole of the life cycle, avoiding the possibility that overeducation may simply capture the increased participation in Higher Education of the young. The hypothesis is that there is a negative relationship between being overeducated and life satisfaction, and a key reason for this relates to comparisons (both with others, and the past). Using dynamic panel analysis, to account for omitted dynamics, such an association is found: the relatively overeducated seem to be relatively less happy. This result appears to fade over time, consistent with the relative comparisons notion. In addition, evidence is presented that income compensates somewhat for the loss of life satisfaction incurred by the overeducation.

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  • Piper, Alan T., 2012. "Heaven knows I’m miserable now: overeducation and reduced life satisfaction," MPRA Paper 46926, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised May 2013.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:46926
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    Cited by:

    1. Alan Piper, 2015. "Europe’s Capital Cities and the Happiness Penalty: An Investigation Using the European Social Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 103-126, August.
    2. Piper, Alan, 2021. "Temps dip deeper: Temporary employment and the midlife nadir in human well-being," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    3. Ahmed Lahsen, Amina & Piper, Alan T. & Thiele, Ida-Anna, 2020. "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, and the Labour Market: Overeducation, Gender, Income and Life Satisfaction. Panel evidence from Korea," MPRA Paper 100616, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Carmen Voces & Miguel Caínzos, 2021. "Overeducation as Status Inconsistency: Effects on Job Satisfaction, Subjective Well-Being and the Image of Social Stratification," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 979-1010, February.
    5. Lahsen, Amina. A & Piper, Alan T., 2018. "Property Rights and Intellectual Property Protection, GDP growth and Well-Being in Latin America," MPRA Paper 90034, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Bertermann, Alexander & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2023. "More education does make you happier - unless you are unemployed," DICE Discussion Papers 406, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    7. Piper, Alan, 2013. "A Note on Modelling Dynamics in Happiness Estimations," MPRA Paper 49364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Piper, Alan T., 2014. "The Benefits, Challenges and Insights of a Dynamic Panel assessment of Life Satisfaction," MPRA Paper 59556, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Alan Piper, 2019. "An Investigation into the Reported Closing of the Nicaraguan Gender Gap," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1391-1413, August.
    10. Seamus McGuinness & Konstantinos Pouliakas & Paul Redmond, 2018. "Skills Mismatch: Concepts, Measurement And Policy Approaches," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 985-1015, September.
    11. Bertermann, Alexander & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2023. "More Education Does Make You Happier – Unless You Are Unemployed," IZA Discussion Papers 16454, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. P. Kler & G. Leeves & S. Shankar, 2015. "Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself: Perceptions of Job Security in Australia After the Global Financial Crisis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 753-769, September.
    13. Piper, Alan T., 2018. "Adult life satisfaction: largely (though not wholly) contemporaneous? A System General Method of Moments dynamic panel analysis," MPRA Paper 85601, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Jantsch, Antje & Piper, Alan, 2024. "An investigation into the relationship between town size and well-being in Latin America and the role of education," MPRA Paper 120565, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Piper, Alan T., 2014. "Sliding down the U-shape? An investigation of the age-well-being relationship, with a focus on young adults," MPRA Paper 55819, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Petya Ilieva-Trichkova & Pepka Boyadjieva, 2021. "The Fragile Axes of Life: A Capability Approach Perspective towards Graduates’ Education–Job Mismatches and Subjective Well-Being," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    17. Alexander Bertermann & Daniel A. Kamhöfer & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch, 2023. "More Education Does Make You Happier – Unless You Are Unemployed," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1192, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. Piper, Alan T., 2012. "A Happiness Test of Human Capital Theory," MPRA Paper 43496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Carmen Voces & Miguel Caínzos, 2022. "The Political Significance of Overeducation: Status Inconsistency, Attitudes towards the Political System and Political Participation in a High-Overeducation Context," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    20. Alan Piper, 2018. "Adult life satisfaction largely (though not wholly) contemporaneous," Discussion Papers 028, Europa-Universität Flensburg, International Institute of Management.
    21. Didier, Nicolas, 2024. "Educational mismatch, labor market completeness, and gender: Evidence from Chile," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Life Satisfaction; Happiness; Overeducation; Dynamic Panel Analysis; BHPS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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