Satisfaction with Life and Economic Well-Being: Evidence from Germany

Abstract

The relationship between an individual's economic well-being and satisfaction with own life has been the focus of many studies both within and across countries, in one period of time and over time. As a proxy of economic well-being household income both adjusted and unadjusted for household needs has been generally used. The aim of the present paper is to propose a more comprehensive measure of well-being considering the role that wealth and permanent income play in simultaneously determining satisfaction with life. The results, based on representative microdata from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), suggest that both income and wealth increase satisfaction, that long-run income is more appropriate than short-term income and that satisfaction with life is particularly high for those who are at the top of both the income and wealth distributions.