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The persistence of unhappiness: trapped into despair?

Author

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  • Lionel Wilner

    (CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This article investigates whether self-assessed states of unhappiness are persistent. To disentangle state dependence from unobserved heterogeneity in life satisfaction, it estimates a dynamic ordered Logit with correlated random effects on longitudinal data in France, the UK, Australia, and Germany. The persistence of life satisfaction is found to be heterogeneous; people already happy with their lives tend to remain happy while unhappiness sounds more transitory. Overall, there is no empirical evidence of unhappiness traps: rather, every individual faces the risk of experiencing some temporary spell of low subjective well-being in her life course.

Suggested Citation

  • Lionel Wilner, 2022. "The persistence of unhappiness: trapped into despair?," Post-Print hal-04799394, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04799394
    DOI: 10.1093/oep/gpab055
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04799394v1
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