Life Satisfaction and Keeping Up with Other Countries

Relative Deprivation and Life Satisfaction among Europeans: Keeping up with Others

“…First, we use micro-level data on life satisfaction from Eurobarometer surveys to study the roles of global and in determining the life satisfaction of individuals. In this way, we extend the findings of Eksi and Kaya (2017), who studied the role of global RD and RG in explaining the average life satisfaction in a country. Using micro data enables us to control for both individual characteristics and the effects of within-country RD and RG.…”

“…The effect of RD on life satisfaction is stronger than the effect of RG. The positive association between global RD and life satisfaction is also reported by Eksi and Kaya (2017). However, unlike the current study, they find no evidence of a relationship between global RG and life satisfaction.…”

“…Indeed, the two "may be opposite ends of a single continuum or related but not orthogonal conditions but by focusing on only one, researchers may have only been measuring half of a construct" (Holland, 2010, p. 112). As shown by Dambrun et al (2006) and Eksi and Kaya (2017), the impact of need not be the opposite of . To assess the relative effects of RD and RG, they should be analyzed simultaneously.…”

“…Grimes and Reinhardt (2015), using European and World Values Survey data, finds that the difference between the Gross National Disposable of the country relative to that of the EU15 is an important determinant of people's subjective well-being in the Euro area. Eksi and Kaya (2017), using the global RD index-defined as the fraction of individuals living in the richer countries in the world, multiplied by their mean excess income-finds that the life satisfaction of a country is significantly affected by global RD.…”

“…In this definition, depends both on the share of those who are richer than the person and on the expected value of excess income earned by those who are richer. The concept of can be symmetrically defined as the percentage of persons poorer than the individual, multiplied by their mean missing income-that is, , where p is the income of the poorer persons (as used by, for example, Eksi and Kaya [2017]). As defined above, considers the reference group as comprising higher-income individuals, whereas considers the reference group as comprising lower-income individuals.…”