Heterogeneity in the relationship between unemployment and subjective well-being: a quantile approach

Publication type

Research Paper

Series Number

808

Series

Levy Economics Institute of Bard College Working Papers

Authors

Publication date

June 15, 2014

Summary:

Unemployment has been robustly shown to strongly decrease subjective
well-being (or “happiness”). In the present paper, we use panel quantile
regression techniques in order to analyze to what extent the negative
impact of unemployment varies along the subjective well-­being
distribution. In our analysis of British Household Panel Survey data
(1996–2008) we find that, over the quantiles of our subjective
well-being variable, individuals with high well-­being suffer less from
becoming unemployed. A similar but stronger effect of unemployment is
found for a broad mental well-being variable (GHQ-12). For happy and
mentally stable individuals, it seems their higher well-being acts like a
safety net when they become unemployed. We explore these findings by
examining the heterogeneous unemployment effects over the quantiles of
satisfaction with various life domains.

ISSN

1547366

Subjects

Link

http://www.levyinstitute.org/publications/heterogeneity-in-the-relationship-between-unemployment-and-subjective-well-being-a-quantile-approach


Related Publications

#522574

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest