Income Comparisons Among Neighbours and Life Satisfaction in East and West Germany

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel Study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science. Terms of use: Documents inThe decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYA number of studies have shown that people are more satisfied with their life the more income they have, but that they also take into account how this income compares to that of others. This paper investigates whether this is also true when our neighbours are getting richer.How do we expect people will feel about others around them getting richer? If your immediate reaction is envy or jealousy, according to the happiness research, you have probably been raised in a market economy. In contrast, if you have been raised in a (former) socialist country, you would probably view your neighbours' improvement as a sign that your own situation may also improve soon, hence, be more satisfied with your life.You may actually think that your happiness cannot be affected at all by your neighbours' income, because people do not typically know their neighbours' income.Unless the neighbours are well-enough acquitted to share information on their jobs or the income itself, all people may base their judgement on is indirect measures. As our neighbours are getting richer they may, for instance, replace their old car by a newer or invest in home improvements. Or, if the income gain is less marked, they may start buying more or higher quality goods. Importantly, if we live in communities in which the neighbours have close ties, we may be ab...

Conceptualizing a Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Social Sciences: An Example from Germany

“…There are several examples of studies where spatial data at the neighborhood level provided by commercial suppliers were merged with survey data in Germany. Voigtländer, Berger, and Razum (2010) showed that individual health is partly determined by the socio-economic composition of the neighborhood and Knies (2010) examined whether changes in the average income of the neighborhood affect life satisfaction. Sager (2012) showed that strong residential isolation of the principal migrant groups in Germany is observable at the neighborhood level and Dittmann and Goebel (2010) studied the impact of the neighborhood on individual life satisfaction in Germany.…”