Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/150644 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 95
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
Economic disruption in East Germany at the time of unification resulted in a noticeable drop in life satisfaction. By the late 1990s East Germany's life satisfaction had recovered to about its 1990 level, and its shortfall relative to West Germany was slightly less than that before unification. In West Germany life satisfaction was fairly constant before unification, but subsequently trended moderately downward, with Turkish life satisfaction declining noticeably relative to Germans. Changes in life satisfaction in East and West Germany both for Germans and foreigners are most closely associated with relative income variables, not absolute income.
Subjects: 
Life satisfaction
happiness
relative income
income satisfaction
transition economies
JEL: 
D31
D60
I31
O52
P3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.