(Un)Happiness in Transition

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2009, Volume 23, Number 2, pp. 143–168.

45 Pages Posted: 24 Dec 2007 Last revised: 24 Nov 2014

See all articles by Sergei Guriev

Sergei Guriev

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

Paris School of Economics (PSE)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 24, 2008

Abstract

Despite strong growth performance in transition economies in the last decade, residents of transition countries report abnormally low levels of life satisfaction. Using data from the World Values Survey and other sources, we study various explanations of this phenomenon. First, we document that the disparity in life satisfaction between residents of transition and non-transition countries is much larger among the elderly. Second, we find that deterioration in public goods provision, an increase in macroeconomic volatility, and a mismatch of human capital of residents educated before transition which disproportionately affected the aged population explain a great deal of the difference in life satisfaction between transition countries and other countries with similar income and other macroeconomic conditions. The rest of the gap is explained by the difference in the quality of the samples. As in other countries, life satisfaction in transition countries is strongly related to income; but, due to a higher non-response of high-income individuals in transition countries, the survey-data estimates of the recent increase in life satisfaction, driven by 10-year sustained economic growth in transition region, are biased downwards. The evidence suggests that if the region keeps growing at current rates, life satisfaction in transition countries will catch up with the "normal" level in the near future.

Keywords: happiness, satisfaction, transition, unhappiness

JEL Classification: A13, I21, P36

Suggested Citation

Guriev, Sergei and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, (Un)Happiness in Transition (November 24, 2008). Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2009, Volume 23, Number 2, pp. 143–168., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1077709 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1077709

Sergei Guriev

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) ( email )

27 rue Saint-Guillaume
Paris Cedex 07, 75337
France

HOME PAGE: http://econ.sciences-po.fr/staff/sergei-guriev

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (Contact Author)

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

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