Subjective well-being and life events Tineke de Jonge New Directions in Welfare Congress, Paris, 7...
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Subjective well-being and life events
Tineke de JongeNew Directions in Welfare Congress, Paris, 7 July 2011
Short history measurement SWB in the Netherlands
• First Quality of Life Survey: 1974• Domain specific questions
How satisfied are you with your life?
Do you consider yourself happy?
• Two general subjective questions:
How satisfied are you with your life?
Do you consider yourself happy?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
% population 12 yrs and older Happy Satisfied
Short history measurement SWB in the Netherlands
How satisfied are you with your life?
• Extraordinarily satisfied
• Very satisfied
• Satisfied
• Fairly satisfied
• Not very satisfied
Do you consider yourself happy?
• Very happy
• Happy
• Neither happy nor unhappy
• Not very happy
• Unhappy
Theories on well-being
Standard assumption in economics: Higher income higher level of well-being
SWB should go up or down with income rise or fall
Adaptation based theories: Major life events affect subjective well-being
SWB returns to normal after a period of adaptation
Social Statistical Database (SSD)
SSD
Civil register
Labour force survey
EU-SILC
Income register
Employment register
Unemployment register
Dataset for analyses
• Pooled survey data 2001 - 2008
• 59,000 respondents of 20 years and older
• Enriched with data Social Statistical Database Income shocks Life events
Higher income comes with greater happiness
Income shocks
Data for analyses• Yearly disposable household income ‘03-’08 from SSD• Price level 2008• 36,000 respondents
Income shocks
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Decrease morethan 15%
Decrease between5% and 15%
Change between -5% and +5%
Increase between5% and 15%
Increase more than15%
% respondents in income class
< € 10.000
€ 10.000 - € 20.000
€ 20.000 - € 30.000
€ 30.000 - € 40.000
€ 40.000 - € 50.000
>= € 50.000
Total
Income class
Size of income shock
The effect of income shocks on SWB
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
< -35% -35% to-25%
-25% to-15%
-15% to-5%
-5% to5%
5% to15%
15% to25%
25% to35%
> 35% < -35% -35% to-25%
-25% to-15%
-15% to-5%
-5% to5%
5% to15%
15% to25%
25% to35%
> 35%
Income shock present year or year before
% happy people % satisfied people
Life events from SSD• Change in marital status
Marrying
Divorcing
Being widowed
• Change in socio-economic status
Starting to work
Becoming dependent on benefits
(unemployment/disability)
Becoming a pensioner
Adaptation to changed circumstances
Number of life events in SSD
< 1
yr
< 1
yr
< 1
yr
< 1
yr
< 1
yr
< 1
yr
1 to
2 y
rs
1 to
2 y
rs
1 to
2 y
rs
1 to
2 y
rs
1 to
2 y
rs
1 to
2 y
rs
2 to
3 y
rs
2 to
3 y
rs
2 to
3 y
rs
2 to
3 y
rs
2 to
3 y
rs
2 to
3 y
rs
3 to
4 y
rs
3 to
4 y
rs
3 to
4 y
rs
3 to
4 y
rs
3 to
4 y
rs
3 to
4 y
rs
4 to
5 y
rs
4 to
5 y
rs
4 to
5 y
rs
4 to
5 y
rs
4 to
5 y
rs
4 to
5 y
rs5 to
8 y
rs
5 to
8 y
rs
5 to
8 y
rs
5 to
8 y
rs
5 to
8 y
rs
5 to
8 y
rs
0
250
500
750
1.000
1.250
1.500
1.750
2.000
2.250
2.500
2.750
3.000
3.250Number of respondents
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
< 1 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 4 4 to 5 5 to 8
% Happy persons
Married
Divorced
Widowed
No change
Share of happy people after life event
Years past since life event
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5 to 8 4 to 5 3 to 4 2 to 3 1 to 2 < 1 < 1 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 4 4 to 5 5 to 8
% Happy persons
Married
Divorced
Widowed
No change
A change in marital status and SWB
Years before life-event Years after life-event
Life event
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5 to 8 4 to 5 3 to 4 2 to 3 1 to 2 < 1 < 1 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 4 4 to 5 5 to 8
% Happy persons (dashed: % satisfied)
Married
Divorced
Widowed
No change
A change in marital status and SWB
Years before life-event Years after life-event
Life event
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5 to 8 4 to 5 3 to 4 2 to 3 1 to 2 < 1 < 1 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 4 4 to 5 5 to 8
% Happy persons (dashed: % satisfied)
Worker
Recipient
Pensioner
No change
A change in socio-economic status and SWB
Years before life-event Years after life-event
Life event
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5 to 8 4 to 5 3 to 4 2 to 3 1 to 2 < 1 < 1 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 4 4 to 5 5 to 8
% Happy persons (dashed: % satisfied)
Worker
Recipient
Pensioner
No change
A change in socio-economic status and SWB
Years before life-event Years after life-event
Life event
Conclusions
• People adapt to circumstances• Our data contain meaningful information• Happiness and satisfaction are assessed differently• People react differently to various types of life events
• Changes in SWB are more likely due to life events than to income shocks
Thank you for your attention!