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Happiness and Financial Satisfaction in Israel: Effects of Religiosity, Ethnicity, and War

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  • van Praag, Bernard M. S.

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Romanov, Dmitri

    (Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel)

  • Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada

    (CSIC Institute for Economic Analysis)

Abstract

We analyze individual satisfaction with life as a whole and satisfaction with the personal financial situation for Israeli citizens of Jewish and Arab descent. Our data set is the Israeli Social Survey (2006). We are especially interested in the impact of the religions Judaism, Islam and Christianity, where we are able to differentiate between individuals who vary in religiosity between secular and ultra-orthodox. We find a significant effect of religiosity on happiness. With respect to Jewish families it is most striking that the impact of family size on both life and financial satisfaction seems to vary with religiosity. This might be a reason for differentiation in family equivalence scales. For Arab families we did not find this effect. First-generation immigrants are less happy than second-generation immigrants, while there is no significant difference between second-generation families and native families. The effect of the Lebanon War is much less than expected.

Suggested Citation

  • van Praag, Bernard M. S. & Romanov, Dmitri & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada, 2010. "Happiness and Financial Satisfaction in Israel: Effects of Religiosity, Ethnicity, and War," IZA Discussion Papers 5184, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5184
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    religion; Israel; financial satisfaction; subjective well-being; happiness; immigration; terrorism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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