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Tasting Freedom: happiness, religion and economic transition

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  • Lelkes, Orsolya

Abstract

Economic transition lowered happiness on average, but did not affect all equally. This paper uses Hungarian survey data to study the impact of religion and economic transition on happiness. Religious involvement contributes positively to individuals¿ self-reported well-being. Controlling for personal characteristics of the respondents, money is a less important source of happiness for the religious. The impact of economic transition has varied greatly across different groups. The main winners from increasing economic freedom were the entrepreneurs. The religious were little affected by the changes. This implies that greater ideological freedom, measured by a greater social role of churches, may not influence happiness per se.

Suggested Citation

  • Lelkes, Orsolya, 2002. "Tasting Freedom: happiness, religion and economic transition," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6384, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:6384
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6384/
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    Cited by:

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    3. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2007. "Are there Geographical Variations in the Psychological Cost of Unemployment in South Africa?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 80(3), pages 629-652, February.
    4. Bobrova, Maria & Kümpel, Arndt, 2010. "Reflexive self-organization and path dependency in institutionalization processes," MPRA Paper 22465, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Wim Naudé & José Ernesto Amorós & Oscar Cristi, 2011. "‘Surfeiting, The Appetite May Sicken’: Entrepreneurship and the Happiness of Nations," Working Papers 2011/07, Maastricht School of Management.
    6. Lelkes, Orsolya, 2003. "A pénz boldogít? A jövedelem és hasznosság kapcsolatának empirikus elemzése [Can money buy happiness? An empirical analysis of the relation between income and utility]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 383-405.
    7. Kalyuzhnova, Yelena & Kambhampati, Uma, 2008. "The determinants of individual happiness in Kazakhstan," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 285-299, September.
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    9. Meng Wang & Lining Gan, 2018. "Religion and Corporate Innovation," Business and Management Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(1), pages 81-95, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Happiness; economic transition; religion; entrepreneurs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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