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Family Money, Relational Life and (Class) Relative Wealth: an Empirical Analysis on Life Satisfaction of Secondary School Students

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Abstract

We investigate factors affecting happiness on a sample of Italian secondary school students. We find that money matters since family’s house ownership, mortgages and (class) relative wealth significantly affect life satisfaction. Other crucial factors are geographical residence (those living in Milan are significantly less happy), mother’s occupation, trust on family and friendships. Even though we cannot rule out inverse causality and other forms of endogeneity, the characteristics of many of the significant regressors such as family wealth, parental job and geographical residence (not under the decisional power of the student) suggest a direct causality nexus for these factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonardo Becchetti & Fabio Pisani, 2012. "Family Money, Relational Life and (Class) Relative Wealth: an Empirical Analysis on Life Satisfaction of Secondary School Students," CEIS Research Paper 223, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 21 Feb 2012.
    • Handle: RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:223
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    Keywords

    life satisfaction; secondary school; wealth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts

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