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Life Satisfaction across Cities: Evidence from Romania

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  • Camilla Lenzi
  • Giovanni Perucca

Abstract

Based on the literature on agglomeration economies and studies on life satisfaction, especially with regard to Central and Eastern European countries, this article focuses on subjective wellbeing in Romania between 1996 and 2011. The findings indicate that life satisfaction was greater in larger cities, although the positive effects of agglomeration held up to a certain threshold. These effects were both direct (people living in large cities were more satisfied than those living in rural areas) and indirect (people living in rural areas embedded in urbanised regions were more satisfied than people in rural areas embedded in less urbanised regions).

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  • Camilla Lenzi & Giovanni Perucca, 2016. "Life Satisfaction across Cities: Evidence from Romania," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(7), pages 1062-1077, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:52:y:2016:i:7:p:1062-1077
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2015.1113265
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    Cited by:

    1. Fredrik Carlsen & Stefan Leknes, 2022. "For whom are cities good places to live?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(12), pages 2177-2190, December.
    2. Kassouri, Yacouba & Okunlola, Oluyemi Adewole, 2022. "Analysis of spatio-temporal drivers and convergence characteristics of urban development in Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Christian-Lambert Nguena & Honoré Tekam & Borice Augustin Ngounou & Sostella Arida TchoualaFeutsa, 2024. "Building Joyful cities: is urbanization always pave a path to happiness in Africa?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 71(4), pages 847-874, December.
    4. Želinský, Tomáš & Hudec, Oto & Mojsejová, Alena & Hricová, Silvia, 2021. "The effects of population density on subjective well-being: A case-study of Slovakia," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Umakrishnan Kollamparambil & Mlungisi Ndlovu, 2023. "Assessing the Income and Subjective Wellbeing Relationship Across Sub-national Developmental Contexts," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 769-790, February.
    6. Fredrik Carlsen & Stefan Leknes, 2019. "The paradox of the unhappy, growing city: reconciling evidence," Discussion Papers 907, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    7. Navarro, María & D'Agostino, Antonella & Neri, Laura, 2020. "The effect of urbanization on subjective well-being: Explaining cross-regional differences," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    8. Catalina Nicolás-Martínez & María Concepción Pérez-Cárceles & Prudencio José Riquelme-Perea & Carmen María Verde-Martín, 2024. "Are Cities Decisive for Life Satisfaction? A Structural Equation Model for the European Population," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 1025-1051, September.

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