Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51797 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5906
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper assesses the long-term subjective well-being and mental health toll of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 in the general Ukrainian population and estimates the monetary differential necessary to compensate victims of the catastrophe. The analysis is based on two nationally representative Ukrainian data sets and reveals that even 20 years after the accident subjective well-being is negatively associated with self-reported assessments of having been affected by the catastrophe. The causal long-term effect of the disaster on life satisfaction is established by exploiting variation in official radiation data which are linked to survey respondents through information on their place of living in 1986. We find higher depression and trauma rates as well as poorer subjective life expectancy among those stronger affected by Chernobyl. Expressed in monetary terms, the estimated amount of income required to compensate for the experienced utility loss amounts to an annual cost of seven percent of Ukraine's GDP.
Subjects: 
Chernobyl catastrophe
subjective well-being
mental health
instrumental variable
JEL: 
D60
I18
I31
J28
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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