Unemployment, Social Capital, and Subjective Well-Being

Winkelmann, Rainer

doi:10.2139/ssrn.937887

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Unemployment, Social Capital, and Subjective Well-Being

IZA Discussion Paper No. 2346

27 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2006

See all articles by Rainer Winkelmann

Rainer Winkelmann

University of Zurich - Statistics and Empirical Economic Research; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: September 2006

Abstract

It has been shown in past research that unemployment has a large negative impact on subjective well-being of individuals. In this paper, I explore whether and to what extent people with more social capital are sheltered from the harmful effects of unemployment. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984-2004, I find that social capital is an important predictor of well-being levels, but there is no evidence that it moderates the effect of unemployment on well-being. The well-being loss, in turn, is shown to predict job search and re-employment. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are given.

Keywords: happiness, German Socio-Economic Panel, search, regression

JEL Classification: I31, J64, Z13

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Winkelmann, Rainer, Unemployment, Social Capital, and Subjective Well-Being (September 2006). IZA Discussion Paper No. 2346, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=937887 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.937887