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Does past unemployment experience explain the transition happiness gap?

Author

Listed:
  • Norton, Edward C.
  • Nizalova, Olena
  • Murtazashvili, Irina
Abstract
The profound economic and political changes of the 1990s had detrimental social effects in many domains of life in post-socialist countries, including diminishing life expectancy and growing unhappiness. Despite economic improvements in the second decade of transition, research has documented that happiness lagged behind. We test whether past unemployment experience can explain this “transition happiness gap in the context of Ukraine”, a country with a painful delayed transition from planned to market economy. We analyze unique longitudinal data for the period 2003–2012. Current unemployment substantially reduces subjective wellbeing, and the effect is roughly 50% larger for men than for women. The effect of past unemployment is significant, but small in magnitude compared to the effect of current unemployment. However, it does correspond to around 8% of the ‘’transition happiness gap” found by Guriev and Melnikov (2017), suggesting that past unemployment experience can be considered as a partial explanation.

Suggested Citation

  • Norton, Edward C. & Nizalova, Olena & Murtazashvili, Irina, 2018. "Does past unemployment experience explain the transition happiness gap?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1104-1121.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:46:y:2018:i:4:p:1104-1121
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2018.04.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Fengyu Wu, 2021. "Modern Economic Growth, Culture, and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Arctic Alaska," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 2621-2651, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transition happiness gap; Unemployment; Life satisfaction; Social comparison; Scarring; Adaptation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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