13
the national income distribution. Most studies do not report marginal effects, and thus a
detailed comparison along this dimension is not possible.
|
Table 4: Comparing core determinants of happiness in Eastern Europe and Western countries | ||||||
|
Eastern Europe |
Russia1 |
Russia2 |
Kyrgyzstan |
EU |
US | |
|
Age |
Min: 40, |
Min: 35, |
Min: 51, |
Min: 42, |
Min: 43, |
Min: 37, |
|
+ for = 80 |
+ for = 70 |
+ for = 103 |
+ for = 85 |
+ for = 86 |
+ for = 74 | |
|
Female |
? |
- |
? |
? |
+ |
+ |
|
Married |
+ |
? |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
|
Education |
+ |
+ |
+ |
? |
+ |
+ |
|
Income |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
|
Unemployed |
- |
n.a. |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Notes: + (-) indicates a significantly positive (negative) effect and ? indicates no significant effect.
Sources: Eastern Europe: own calculations, Russia1: Graham and Pettinato (2000), Russia2: Ravallion and
Lokshin (2000), Kyrgyzstan: Namazie and Sanfey (1999), EU: Di Tella et al. (2001), US: Blanchflower and
Oswald (2000).
With regard to gender, no significant differences can be found in Eastern Europe. Table 4
reveals that in the West females tend to be happier, while for Russia, one study even reports a
negative sign.4 One explanation for this deviation from attitudes in Western countries may be
the relatively less enthusiastic support of women towards the creation of a market economy in
East European countries (Hayo 2004). This critical attitude might reflect relatively more
pessimistic expectations women have for their lives under the new regime, canceling out the
“extra” happiness recorded in Western surveys compared to men.
In Eastern Europe, married persons report a higher life-satisfaction than those who were
never married, divorced or widowed. Being married raises the probability of answering “very
satisfied” by 8%, while the probability of being in one of the lower happiness categories
decreases by 3% and 5%, respectively. The positive association between happiness and
marriage is reported in most of the studies listed in Table 4. The negative effect of divorced
on happiness in the general model of Table 2 does not survive the testing-down process. In
other studies, divorced and widowed persons are reported to be relatively less happy, without
an attempt to evaluate the statistical robustness of this finding. Graham and Pettinato (2000)
4 In his survey of the psychological literature, Cummins (2000, 134) is rather sceptical with regard to the
existence of gender differences in happiness.