Welfare State and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Public Health Care

Abstract:     
We examine the link between the welfare state and citizens' subjective wellbeing by using evidence from public health care services. By combining local-level data on public health care and individual-level data on life satisfaction, we show that relatively high expenditures in health care have a positive effect on individuals' life satisfaction in our data. We find some evidence for an ‘ends-against-the-middle’ equilibrium in provision of public health care, where middle-income individuals prefer higher public expenditure than low-income or high-income individuals. Further, our results indicate that the welfare benefit of public provision depends on individual political orientation.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Accepted Paper Series