IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v132y2016ipap228-242.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of war on happiness: The case of Ukraine

Author

Listed:
  • Coupe, Tom
  • Obrizan, Maksym

Abstract

In this paper, we study how war affects happiness using data from the on-going conflict in Ukraine. Using a difference-in-difference design, we find that the average level of happiness declined substantially in areas that experience war directly, with the drop in happiness being roughly comparable to the loss of happiness a relatively well-off person would experience if he/she were to become a poor person. At the same time, despite the fact that the war in the East dominates the local media in Ukraine, respondents in other regions of Ukraine are about as happy as they were before the war.

Suggested Citation

  • Coupe, Tom & Obrizan, Maksym, 2016. "The impact of war on happiness: The case of Ukraine," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 132(PA), pages 228-242.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:132:y:2016:i:pa:p:228-242
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2016.09.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268116302086
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2016.09.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Islam, Asadul & Ouch, Chandarany & Smyth, Russell & Wang, Liang Choon, 2016. "The long-term effects of civil conflicts on education, earnings, and fertility: Evidence from Cambodia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 800-820.
    2. Van Praag, Bernard M.S. & Romanov, Dmitri & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada, 2010. "Happiness and financial satisfaction in Israel: Effects of religiosity, ethnicity, and war," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1008-1020, December.
    3. Hartmut Lehmann & Alexander Muravyev & Klaus Zimmermann, 2012. "The Ukrainian longitudinal monitoring survey: towards a better understanding of labor markets in transition," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
    5. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger & Alois Stutzer, 2007. "Calculating Tragedy: Assessing The Costs Of Terrorism," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Danzer, Alexander M. & Danzer, Natalia, 2016. "The long-run consequences of Chernobyl: Evidence on subjective well-being, mental health and welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 47-60.
    7. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    8. Ward, George, 2015. "Is happiness a predictor of election results?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 61698, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Edward C. Norton & Hua Wang & Chunrong Ai, 2004. "Computing interaction effects and standard errors in logit and probit models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 154-167, June.
    10. Zhukov, Yuri M., 2016. "Trading hard hats for combat helmets: The economics of rebellion in eastern Ukraine," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 1-15.
    11. Djankov, Simeon & Nikolova, Elena & Zilinsky, Jan, 2016. "The happiness gap in Eastern Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 108-124.
    12. Duvanova, Dinissa & Nikolaev, Alexander & Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, Alex & Semenov, Alexander, 2016. "Violent conflict and online segregation: An analysis of social network communication across Ukraine's regions," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 163-181.
    13. Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Lekfuangfu, Warn N. & Wooden, Mark, 2015. "What's the good of education on our overall quality of life? A simultaneous equation model of education and life satisfaction for Australia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 10-21.
    14. Bonin, Holger & Eichhorst, Werner & Florman, Christer & Hansen, Mette Okkels & Skiöld, Lena & Stuhler, Jan & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos & Thomasen, Henrik & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2008. "Geographic Mobility in the European Union: Optimising its Economic and Social Benefits," IZA Research Reports 19, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Christopher Blattman & Jeannie Annan, 2010. "The Consequences of Child Soldiering," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 882-898, November.
    16. Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel, 2014. "Children of War: The Long-Run Effects of Large-Scale Physical Destruction and Warfare on Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(3), pages 634-662.
    17. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Heidi Lepper, 1999. "A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 137-155, February.
    18. Olga Shemyakina & Anke Plagnol, 2013. "Subjective Well-Being and Armed Conflict: Evidence from Bosnia-Herzegovina," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 1129-1152, September.
    19. Welsch, Heinz, 2006. "Environment and happiness: Valuation of air pollution using life satisfaction data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 801-813, July.
    20. George Ward, 2015. "Is Happiness a Predictor of Election Results?," CEP Discussion Papers dp1343, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    21. Puhani, Patrick A., 2012. "The treatment effect, the cross difference, and the interaction term in nonlinear “difference-in-differences” models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 85-87.
    22. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    23. Stutzer, Alois & Frey, Bruno S., 2012. "Recent Developments in the Economics of Happiness: A Selective Overview," IZA Discussion Papers 7078, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Pauline Grosjean, 2014. "Conflict and Social and Political Preferences: Evidence from World War II and Civil Conflict in 35 European Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 56(3), pages 424-451, September.
    25. Coupé, Tom & Obrizan, Maksym, 2016. "Violence and political outcomes in Ukraine—Evidence from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 201-212.
    26. Pierce, Lamar & Rogers, Todd & Snyder, Jason A., 2015. "Losing Hurts: The Happiness Impact of Partisan Electoral Loss," Working Paper Series rwp14-051, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    27. Carol Graham & Soumya Chattopadhyay, 2013. "Gender and well-being around the world," International Journal of Happiness and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(2), pages 212-232.
    28. Rajagopal, 2014. "The Human Factors," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Architecting Enterprise, chapter 9, pages 225-249, Palgrave Macmillan.
    29. Richard Akresh & Philip Verwimp & Tom Bundervoet, 2011. "Civil War, Crop Failure, and Child Stunting in Rwanda," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(4), pages 777-810.
    30. Dmitri Romanov & Asaf Zussman & Noam Zussman, 2012. "Does Terrorism Demoralize? Evidence from Israel," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(313), pages 183-198, January.
    31. George MacKerron, 2012. "Happiness Economics From 35 000 Feet," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 705-735, September.
    32. Greene, William, 2010. "Testing hypotheses about interaction terms in nonlinear models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 291-296, May.
    33. Diana Weinhold, 2013. "The Happiness-Reducing Costs Of Noise Pollution," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 292-303, May.
    34. Florence Kondylis, 2008. "Conflict displacement and labor market outcomes in post-war Bosnia & Herzegovina," HiCN Working Papers 45, Households in Conflict Network.
    35. Heinz Welsch, 2008. "The Social Costs of Civil Conflict: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 320-340, May.
    36. Kondylis, Florence, 2010. "Conflict displacement and labor market outcomes in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 235-248, November.
    37. Koch, Michael T., 2011. "Casualties and Incumbents: Do the Casualties from Interstate Conflicts Affect Incumbent Party Vote Share?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 795-817, October.
    38. Rehdanz, Katrin & Welsch, Heinz & Narita, Daiju & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2015. "Well-being effects of a major natural disaster: The case of Fukushima," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 500-517.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jose Roberto Balmori de la Miyar, 2020. "Breaking sad: drug-related homicides and mental well-being in Mexico," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(4), pages 513-531, December.
    2. Tymofii Brik & Maksym Obrizan, 2024. "Gender Gap in Urban Job Market During the Pandemic: The Case of Ukraine," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(2), pages 215-235, June.
    3. Malte Sandner & Alexander Patzina & Silke Anger & Sarah Bernhard & Hans Dietrich, 2023. "The COVID-19 pandemic, well-being, and transitions to post-secondary education," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 461-483, June.
    4. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Sven Fischer, 2023. "The Effect of the “Woman Life Freedom” Protests on Life Satisfaction in Iran: Evidence from Survey Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 10643, CESifo.
    5. Gunes Gokmen & Evgeny Yakovlev, 2017. "War and Well-Being in Transition: Russo-Georgian Conflict as a Natural Experiment," Working Papers w0243, New Economic School (NES).
    6. Anastasia, Giacomo & Boeri, Tito & Kudlyak, Marianna & Zholud, Oleksandr, 2022. "The Labor Market in Ukraine: Rebuild Better," CEPR Discussion Papers 17769, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Martijn J. Burger & Ruut Veenhoven, 2023. "Editorial: Special Issue on Subjective Well-being and Mental Health in the Early Days of COVID-19," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-8, February.
    8. Djankov, Simeon & Nikolova, Elena, 2018. "Communism as the unhappy coming," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 708-721.
    9. Conlon, Thomas & Corbet, Shaen & Goodell, John W. & Hou, Yang (Greg) & Oxley, Les, 2024. "Financial market information flows when counteracting rogue states: The indirect effects of targeted sanction packages," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 32-62.
    10. Gokmen, Gunes & Yakovlev, Evgeny, 2018. "War and well-being in transition: Evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 788-799.
    11. Maksym Obrizan, 2022. "Poverty, Unemployment and Displacement in Ukraine: three months into the war," Papers 2211.05628, arXiv.org.
    12. Obrizan, Maksym, 2017. "Does EU membership prevent crowding out of public health care? Evidence from 28 transition countries," MPRA Paper 81708, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. John F. Helliwell & Haifang Huang & Shun Wang, 2020. "Happiness and the Quality of Government," NBER Working Papers 26840, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Osiichuk, Maryna & Shepotylo, Oleksandr, 2020. "Conflict and well-being of civilians: The case of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    15. Obrizan, Maksym, 2017. "Transition gap in self-rated health," MPRA Paper 81151, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Tymofii Brik & Maksym Obrizan, 2020. "Job market effects of COVID-19 on urban Ukrainian households," Papers 2007.15704, arXiv.org.
    17. Goli, Srinivas & Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Rammohan, Anu & Vu, Loan, 2022. "Conflicts and son preference: Micro-level evidence from 58 countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    18. Swee, Eik Leong & Zhan, Haikun & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2021. "Do perceptions of economic well-being predict the onset of war and peace?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    19. Maksym Obrizan, 2019. "Violent conflict and unhappiness: evidence from the 2016 ‘Life in Transition' III surve," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 192-199.
    20. Tamilina, Larysa, 2024. "The Analysis of Life Satisfaction Predictors Among Ukrainian Students During Times of Conflict," MPRA Paper 119915, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Gu, Xin & Li, Hao & Peng, Langchuan, 2022. "The anti-domestic violence law and women's welfare: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1-16.
    22. Luo, Chunyang & Yang, Fucheng & Pan, Lu, 2024. "Exploring the nexus between natural resources, environmental pollution, external conflicts, financial stability and human development: Evidence from OECD nations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    23. Tom Coupé & Maksym Obrizan, 2024. "War and Happiness," Working Papers in Economics 24/06, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Osiichuk, Maryna & Shepotylo, Oleksandr, 2020. "Conflict and well-being of civilians: The case of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    2. Welsch, Heinz & Ferreira, Susana, 2014. "Environment, Well-Being, and Experienced Preference," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 7(3-4), pages 205-239, December.
    3. Ferreira, Susana & Moro, Mirko & Welsch, Heinz, 2024. "Using Life Satisfaction and Happiness Data for Environmental Valuation: An Experienced Preference Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 16718, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Dolan, Paul & Fujiwara, Daniel & Metcalfe, Robert, 2011. "A step towards valuing utility the marginal and cardinal way," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121714, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Hönig, Tillman, 2017. "The Impact of Peace: Evidence from Nigeria," MPRA Paper 83302, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Gokmen, Gunes & Yakovlev, Evgeny, 2018. "War and well-being in transition: Evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 788-799.
    7. Nikolova, Milena, 2016. "Minding the happiness gap: Political institutions and perceived quality of life in transition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 129-148.
    8. Gunes Gokmen & Evgeny Yakovlev, 2017. "War and Well-Being in Transition: Russo-Georgian Conflict as a Natural Experiment," Working Papers w0243, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    9. Minoiu, Camelia & Shemyakina, Olga N., 2014. "Armed conflict, household victimization, and child health in Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 237-255.
    10. 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.
    11. Katrin Rehdanz & Welsch Heinz & Daiju Naritaa & Toshihiro Okubod, 2013. "Well-being effects of a major negative externality: The case of Fukushima," Working Papers V-358-13, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2013.
    12. Tom Coupé & Maksym Obrizan, 2024. "War and Happiness," Working Papers in Economics 24/06, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    13. Welsch, Heinz & Biermann, Philipp, 2014. "Electricity supply preferences in Europe: Evidence from subjective well-being data," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 38-60.
    14. Tekin Kose & Julide Yildirim & Gizem Tanrivere, 2017. "The Effects of Terrorism on Happiness: Evidence from Turkey," EcoMod2017 10229, EcoMod.
    15. Olga N. Shemyakina, 2011. "Labour Market, Education and Armed Conflict in Tajikistan," HiCN Working Papers 106, Households in Conflict Network.
    16. Welsch, Heinz & Biermann, Philipp, 2016. "Measuring nuclear power plant externalities using life satisfaction data: A spatial analysis for Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 98-111.
    17. Maksym Obrizan, 2019. "Violent conflict and unhappiness: evidence from the 2016 ‘Life in Transition' III surve," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 192-199.
    18. Tillman Hönig, 2019. "The Impact of Peace: Evidence from Nigeria," HiCN Working Papers 293, Households in Conflict Network.
    19. Olga Shemyakina & Anke Plagnol, 2013. "Subjective Well-Being and Armed Conflict: Evidence from Bosnia-Herzegovina," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 1129-1152, September.
    20. Akresh, Richard & Lucchetti, Leonardo & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2012. "Wars and child health: Evidence from the Eritrean–Ethiopian conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 330-340.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Happiness; War; Ukraine;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:132:y:2016:i:pa:p:228-242. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.