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Does government ideology affect personal happiness? A test

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  • Dreher, Axel
  • Öhler, Hannes

Abstract

We investigate the impact of government ideology on left-wing as compared to conservative individuals. We find that conservative people are happier, on average. In a sample excluding the richest countries left-wing people are happier under the tenure of left-wing governments.

Suggested Citation

  • Dreher, Axel & Öhler, Hannes, 2011. "Does government ideology affect personal happiness? A test," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 161-165, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:111:y:2011:i:2:p:161-165
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina Fischer, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: exploring different determinants across groups in society," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 30(1), pages 119-173, January.
    2. Bjørnskov, Christian, 2008. "The growth-inequality association: Government ideology matters," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 300-308, October.
    3. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    4. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina Fischer, 2007. "The bigger the better? Evidence of the effect of government size on life satisfaction around the world," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 267-292, March.
    5. Inglehart Ronald & Basañez Miguel & Díez-Madrano Jaime & Halman Loek & Luijkx Ruud, 2004. "Human Beliefs and Values," Books, Fundacion BBVA / BBVA Foundation, edition 0, number 201143, October.
    6. Niklas Potrafke, 2009. "Does government ideology influence political alignment with the U.S.? An empirical analysis of voting in the UN General Assembly," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 245-268, September.
    7. World Bank, 2009. "World Development Indicators 2009," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4367.
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    Cited by:

    1. Victoria Ateca-Amestoy & Mariana Gerstenblüth & Irene Mussio & Máximo Rossi, 2014. "How do Cultural Activities Influence Happiness? The Relation Between Self-Reported Well-Being and Leisure," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0614, Department of Economics - dECON.
    2. Victoria Ateca-Amestoy & Mariana Gerstenblüth & Irene Mussio & Máximo Rossi, 2016. "How do cultural activities influence happiness? Investigating the relationship between self-reported well-being and leisure," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 31(2), pages 217-234.
    3. Friedrichsen, Jana & Zahn, Philipp, 2014. "Political support in hard times: Do people care about national welfare?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 23-37.
    4. repec:ces:ifodic:v:11:y:2013:i:2:p:19094731 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Bodo Knoll & Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2013. "A note on the impact of economic regulation on life satisfaction," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(9), pages 916-920, June.
    6. François Facchini, 2022. "Happiness and Public Spending," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-03911710, HAL.
    7. Hadsell, Lester & Jones, Adam T, 2020. "The company you keep: Satisfaction with life, economic freedom, and preference-policy mismatch," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 642-657.
    8. Maite D. Laméris & Richard Jong-A-Pin & Rasmus Wiese, 2018. "An Experimental Test of the Validity of Survey-Measured Political Ideology," CESifo Working Paper Series 7139, CESifo.
    9. Gholipour, Hassan F. & Kalantari, Hassan D. & Kousary, Mohammad, 2022. "Self-employment and Life Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Perceived Importance of Family, Friends, Leisure Time, and Work," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    10. Bodo Knoll & Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2013. "Economic Freedom, Money and Happiness – Why Deregulation Matters Beyond its Wealth Enhancing Effect," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(2), pages 35-42, 07.
    11. Ozge Gokdemir & Emine Tahsin, 2014. "Factors that Influence the Life Satisfaction of Women Living in the Northern Cyprus," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 1071-1085, February.
    12. Hassan Gholipour Fereidouni & Youhanna Najdi & Reza Ekhtiari Amiri, 2013. "Do governance factors matter for happiness in the MENA region?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 40(12), pages 1028 - 1040, November.
    13. Bodo Knoll & Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2013. "Economic Freedom, Money and Happiness – Why Deregulation Matters Beyond its Wealth Enhancing Effect," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(02), pages 35-42, July.

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