Corruption and life satisfaction: evidence from a transition survey

What is it about?

Being happy is a “prerogative” of every human being. Happiness, though, besides being an individual’s achievement, is also a resource of a collective to become a better society. Happiness can drive individuals to be more committed towards their surrounding environment. Social-psychology studies argue that people more satisfied with their life are more willing to contribute to a better social and institutional environment. We use individuals’ self-assessment of their life satisfaction to test whether citizens more satisfied with their life are more averse to corruption. The Central-East European and Formers Soviet Union transition economies represent our context of analysis. We find that individuals more satisfied with their life condition and financial situation are more likely to report a corrupt exchange if witnessed it; they are also more likely to believe that other people’s actions against corruption can make a difference.

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Corruption causes socio-economic distortions by reducing funds devoted for public goods including safety, social services, and infrastructure. Looking at the subjective well-being perspective to understand individuals’ revealed preferences may have tremendous economic value for the society and policymakers. Citizens more unhappy may also become tolerant towards anti-social and illegal behaviours with negative economic and social cost for the entire society. Indicators of happiness and life satisfaction can be used to estimate anti-social behavioural patterns. This will allow to value the overall monetary benefit of improving life conditions and designing more effective policies.

Perspectives