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52
Since concerns about finances are significant in both the first and second stages, it seems
that stress from economic circumstances has both a direct effect on life satisfaction and
an indirect effect through health. The determinants of life satisfaction are generally
similar across age groups. Two exceptions are marital status and being unemployed.
They are significant for the younger age group, but not for the older age group. As
expected, the magnitude of the coefficient on health in these regressions is smaller than it
is in the health satisfaction regressions.
Based on the 2SLS results, if health were to increase by one unit, then life
satisfaction would increase by approximately 0.5 units for the younger age group and by
one unit for the older age group. Since changes in health probably play a larger role in the
ability to perform day-to-day activities in the older age group than in the younger age
group, it is not surprising that the coefficient on health is larger for the older age group. If
the young East Germans had the same trend in self-reported health as the young West
Germans during this study period, then their life satisfaction would have been 0.10 units
higher than it was by 1999. If young East Germans moved from being very concerned to
not being concerned about finances, then their life satisfaction would increase by 0.92.
For the older age group, it would increase by 0.57. If one were to take into account the
indirect effect of these concerns about finances through health, then the improvement in
life satisfaction would have been 0.99 and 0.66 units for the younger and older groups,
respectively. Therefore, the effect of stress from the transition appears to have a larger
overall role in the life satisfaction of the younger age group. Based on these findings, if
health had not declined so dramatically during the transition period, life satisfaction
52
Object Description
| Title | Essays on health and well-being |
| Author | Zweig, Jacqueline Smith |
| Author email | smith2@usc.edu; jackiesmith04@yahoo.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Economics |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-23 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 26 Apr. 2012. |
| Date published | 2012-04-26 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Easterlin, Richard A. Ham, John C. |
| Advisor (committee member) | Melguizo, Tatiana |
| Abstract | This dissertation is comprised of three chapters that use microeconometric techniques to investigate the factors that affect people’s well-being. In the first two chapters, well-being is defined as life satisfaction or health satisfaction. The first chapter explores how the movement from socialism to capitalism affected the life satisfaction and health satisfaction of East Germans relative to West Germans after reunification. The second chapter examines whether women are happier, less happy, or equally happy as men in countries at various stages of development. The third chapter examines whether pollution affects the academic performance of school children; their academic performance and achievements will have important implications for their future well-being. |
| Keyword | happiness; well-being |
| Geographic subject | Germany |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1990/2010; 2002/2008 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3782 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Zweig, Jacqueline Smith |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Zweig-4500 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume23/etd-Zweig-4500.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 61 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 52 Since concerns about finances are significant in both the first and second stages, it seems that stress from economic circumstances has both a direct effect on life satisfaction and an indirect effect through health. The determinants of life satisfaction are generally similar across age groups. Two exceptions are marital status and being unemployed. They are significant for the younger age group, but not for the older age group. As expected, the magnitude of the coefficient on health in these regressions is smaller than it is in the health satisfaction regressions. Based on the 2SLS results, if health were to increase by one unit, then life satisfaction would increase by approximately 0.5 units for the younger age group and by one unit for the older age group. Since changes in health probably play a larger role in the ability to perform day-to-day activities in the older age group than in the younger age group, it is not surprising that the coefficient on health is larger for the older age group. If the young East Germans had the same trend in self-reported health as the young West Germans during this study period, then their life satisfaction would have been 0.10 units higher than it was by 1999. If young East Germans moved from being very concerned to not being concerned about finances, then their life satisfaction would increase by 0.92. For the older age group, it would increase by 0.57. If one were to take into account the indirect effect of these concerns about finances through health, then the improvement in life satisfaction would have been 0.99 and 0.66 units for the younger and older groups, respectively. Therefore, the effect of stress from the transition appears to have a larger overall role in the life satisfaction of the younger age group. Based on these findings, if health had not declined so dramatically during the transition period, life satisfaction 52 |
