IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fer/dpaper/391.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unemployment and Subjective Well-being: Does Money Make a Difference

Author

Listed:
  • Venetoklis, Takis
  • Ervasti, Heikki

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the level of subjective well-being and its determinants among the unemployed as compared with those currently in paid labour. In theoretical terms, strongly contradictory views prevail on the effects of unemployment on subjective well-being. Whereas the traditional deprivation theory maintains that unemployment is a major psychological stressor, the incentive theory suggests that the level of well-being among the unemployed is far too high for them to actively and effectively search for a new job and to reenter the labour market. Using the European Social Survey (ESS) data our empirical analysis suggests that perhaps, neither of these theories are entirely correct. The deprivation theory points to the right direction by stressing the psychological factors associated with unemployment but makes a notable mistake by disregarding the economic factors which prove to be mot most crucial factor for the well-being of the unemployed. The incentive theory gets no support at all in our empirical analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Venetoklis, Takis & Ervasti, Heikki, 2006. "Unemployment and Subjective Well-being: Does Money Make a Difference," Discussion Papers 391, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:fer:dpaper:391
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/148371
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Johannesson, Magnus, 2001. "The relationship between happiness, health, and socio-economic factors: results based on Swedish microdata," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 553-557.
    2. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-659, May.
    3. Bruno S. Frey, 2018. "Economics of Happiness," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-75807-7, October.
    4. Ensminger, Margaret E. & Celentano, David D., 1990. "Gender differences in the effect of unemployment on psychological distress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 469-477, January.
    5. Heimo Vnamäki & Kaj Koskela & Leo Niskanen, 1993. "The Impact of Unemployment On Psychosomatic Symptoms and Mental Well-Being," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 39(4), pages 266-273, December.
    6. Jahoda,Marie, 1982. "Employment and Unemployment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521285865.
    7. Goldsmith, Arthur H. & Veum, Jonathan R. & Darity, William Jr., 1997. "Unemployment, joblessness, psychological well-being and self-esteem: Theory and evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 133-158.
    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. Petri Böckerman & Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2009. "Unemployment and self‐assessed health: evidence from panel data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 161-179, February.
    2. Roberson Édouard & Gérard Duhaime, 2013. "The Well-Being of the Canadian Arctic Inuit: The Relevant Weight of Economy in the Happiness Equations," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 373-392, August.

    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. Antje Mertens & Miriam Beblo, 2016. "Self-Reported Satisfaction and the Economic Crisis of 2007–2010: Or How People in the UK and Germany Perceive a Severe Cyclical Downturn," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 537-565, January.
    2. Stavrova, Olga & Schlösser, Thomas & Fetchenhauer, Detlef, 2011. "Are the unemployed equally unhappy all around the world? The role of the social norms to work and welfare state provision in 28 OECD countries," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 159-171, February.
    3. Noelia Somarriba Arechavala & Pilar Zarzosa Espina & Ana Teresa López Pastor, 2022. "The Importance of the Neighbourhood Environment and Social Capital for Happiness in a Vulnerable District: The Case of the Pajarillos District in Spain," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 1941-1965, June.
    4. Magdalena Grabowska & Agata Górny & Małgorzata Kalbarczyk, 2024. "Why the Happiest Moments in Life are Sometimes Short? The Role of Psychological Traits and Socio-Economic Circumstances," Working Papers 2024-06, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    5. Cheah, Yong Kang & Tang, Chor Foon, 2011. "The role of socio-demographic factors on self-rated happiness: The case of Malaysia," MPRA Paper 29419, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Daniela Andrén & Peter Martinsson, 2006. "What Contributes to Life Satisfaction in Transitional Romania?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 59-70, February.
    7. Crowley, Frank & Walsh, Edel, 2018. "How important are Personal Ties, Trust and Tolerance for Life Satisfaction in Europe?," SRERC Working Paper Series SRERCWP2018-1, University College Cork (UCC), Spatial and Regional Economic Research Centre (SRERC).
    8. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Viola Berlepsch, 2014. "Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 357-386, April.
    9. Luis Diaz‐Serrano & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2012. "Decentralization, Subjective Well‐Being, and the Perception of Institutions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 179-193, May.
    10. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Diaz-Serrano, Luis, 2011. "Decentralization, Happiness, and the Perception of Institutions," CEPR Discussion Papers 8356, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Estela Núñez-Barriopedro & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll & Eduardo Ahumada-Tello, 2020. "Happiness perception in Spain, a SEM approach to evidence from the sociological research center," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 761-779, June.
    12. Popova, Olga, 2014. "Can religion insure against aggregate shocks to happiness? The case of transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 804-818.
    13. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2003. "Is the Structure of Happiness Equations the Same in Poor and Rich Countries? The Case of South Africa," Development and Comp Systems 0309003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Nov 2003.
    14. Dolan, Paul & Peasgood, Tessa & White, Mathew, 2008. "Do we really know what makes us happy A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-122, February.
    15. Scholderer, Joachim & Grunert, Klaus G., 2005. "Consumers, food and convenience: The long way from resource constraints to actual consumption patterns," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 105-128, February.
    16. Drakopoulos, Stavros A. & Grimani, Katerina, 2013. "Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy and the Effect of Income on Happiness Levels," MPRA Paper 50987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Uppal, Sharanjit, 2006. "Impact of the timing, type and severity of disability on the subjective well-being of individuals with disabilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 525-539, July.
    18. 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.
    19. Andrew E. Clark, 2018. "Four Decades of the Economics of Happiness: Where Next?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 245-269, June.
    20. Lídia Farré & Francesco Fasani & Hannes Mueller, 2018. "Feeling useless: the effect of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-34, December.

    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:fer:dpaper:391. 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: Anita Niskanen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vatttfi.html .

    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.