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59
associated with stress than in West Germany, without a commensurate finding for the
older age groups.
1.8 CONCLUSION
In this paper, I have shown that health satisfaction in East Germany declined
relative to West Germany for people between 24 and 44 in 1990 because of a decline in
health. The first-stage results suggest that stress from economic uncertainty contributed
to the decline in health. The younger age group was at the middle to the peak of their
careers when the transition from socialism to capitalism occurred, and therefore, they
were the most susceptible to higher unemployment rates and economic uncertainty. The
older age group did not experience the same decline in health satisfaction because they
did not experience a decline in health and they had less relative concerns about their
personal economic circumstances. The people in the older age group were the
beneficiaries of a generous pension system, which could explain why they did not
experience as much economic uncertainty as the younger group. The older East Germans
had less severe worries about their personal economic circumstances compared to
younger East Germans. The decline in health for the younger and older age groups
contributed to the slow recovery in life satisfaction. If health had not declined for the
younger age group, life satisfaction would have recovered to nearly pre-reunification
levels sooner.
In addition to contributing to the literature on health and well-being, this paper
also provides insight into the methodology of the well-being literature. Classical
measurement error attenuates the effect of health on both health satisfaction and life
59
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 68 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 59 associated with stress than in West Germany, without a commensurate finding for the older age groups. 1.8 CONCLUSION In this paper, I have shown that health satisfaction in East Germany declined relative to West Germany for people between 24 and 44 in 1990 because of a decline in health. The first-stage results suggest that stress from economic uncertainty contributed to the decline in health. The younger age group was at the middle to the peak of their careers when the transition from socialism to capitalism occurred, and therefore, they were the most susceptible to higher unemployment rates and economic uncertainty. The older age group did not experience the same decline in health satisfaction because they did not experience a decline in health and they had less relative concerns about their personal economic circumstances. The people in the older age group were the beneficiaries of a generous pension system, which could explain why they did not experience as much economic uncertainty as the younger group. The older East Germans had less severe worries about their personal economic circumstances compared to younger East Germans. The decline in health for the younger and older age groups contributed to the slow recovery in life satisfaction. If health had not declined for the younger age group, life satisfaction would have recovered to nearly pre-reunification levels sooner. In addition to contributing to the literature on health and well-being, this paper also provides insight into the methodology of the well-being literature. Classical measurement error attenuates the effect of health on both health satisfaction and life 59 |
