Lebenszufriedenheit und Einkommensreichtum: Eine empirische Analyse mit dem SOEP

Abstract

In this study the relation between satisfaction with life and affluent income is analyzed by using cross-sectional and longitudinal data. The data used in this publication were made available by the German Socio Economic Panel Study (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin. A period from 2002-2008 is examined. The focus lies on the effects social treadmill has on life satisfaction for humans with high income. A key result of the fixed-effect-regression is the following: There is a significant effect relative income has on the contentment with life for affluent people, whereas considerable genderspecific discrepancies can be observed.