University of Southern California

Laura Angelescu
"Life Satisfaction and the Economic Transition in Poland" (job market paper, submitted))(pdf)

Abstract:

Since 1989 Poland has been considered a leader in economic reform, but did the transition make its people happier? What has determined the course of happiness in Poland? In answering these questions I use data from the World Values Survey and the Eurobarometer. I find evidence of a collapse followed by recovery in life satisfaction in Poland. Despite the fact that GDP per capita quickly recovers to pre-transition levels, high unemployment and involuntary early retirement take their toll on the happiness of the Poles. The eventual recovery of life satisfaction is made possible by economic improvements, but also by birth cohort replacement -- new generations are better adjusted to the new society and better equipped to cope with the challenges of transition. Methodologically, the inclusion of year of birth fixed effects in the regressions of life satisfaction on time allows me to see to what extent changes in life satisfaction are driven by changes in the surveyed cohorts as opposed to changes in the objective life circumstances of each birth cohort.

Abstract:

As the transition progresses is there a convergence in terms of job satisfaction between Eastern and Western Europe? I analyze the level of satisfaction with work and its determinants in each of the two regions for the decade and a half following the fall of communism, using data from the World Values Survey and the International Social Survey Programme "Work Orientations" module. Job satisfaction in transition countries is significantly lower than in the West. These countries experience a significant decrease in satisfaction with work between 1990 and 1999, followed by a significant increase by 2005. In non-transition countries, there is no significant change throughout this interval. As a result, the job satisfaction gap between East and West first expands and then shrinks. This gap is mainly the result of differences in macroeconomic conditions between the two regions. Not everyone in Eastern Europe is affected the same way by the transition, young and more educated, more skilled individuals being among the winners of the process.

Richard A. Easterlin and Laura Angelescu
"Happiness and Growth the World Over: Time Series Evidence on the Happiness - Income Paradox"
Happiness, Growth, and the Life Cycle (Richard A. Easterlin), New York, Oxford University Press, Chapter 5, 2010 (IZA)

Abstract:

There is no significant relationship between the improvement in happiness and the long term rate of growth of GDP per capita. This is true for three groups of countries analyzed separately − 17 developed, 9 developing, and 11 transition − and also for the 37 countries taken together. Time series studies reporting a positive relationship confuse a short-term positive association between the growth of happiness and income, arising from fluctuations in macroeconomic conditions, with the long-term relationship, which is nil.

Richard A. Easterlin and Laura Angelescu
"Modern Economic Growth and Quality of Life: Cross Sectional and Time Series Evidence"
Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality-of-Life Research (Kenneth C. Land, ed.), New York and London, Springer, forthcoming 2010. (IZA)

Abstract:

To what extent are improvements in quality of life (material living levels, health, education, political and civil rights, happiness, and the like) associated with economic growth? International comparisons of quality of life (QoL) conditions almost always point to a strong positive association with real GDP per capita. Historical experience, however, frequently belies the results of these comparisons. More often than not the timing of various improvements in QoL, material living levels excepted, is different from that in real GDP per capita -- some indicators preceding, others following. Moreover, the sequence of improvements in various aspects of QoL is not always the same from one part of the world to another. And sometimes, as in the case of happiness and life satisfaction, QoL indicators remain unchanged despite a doubling or more of real GDP per capita. In contrast to the results of simple international point-of-time comparisons, history suggests that improvements in many realms of life are not an automatic result of economic growth.