Paul, SaumikDabalen, Andrew2012-03-192012-03-192011-01-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3299Using Life in Transition Survey data for 27 transition countries, the findings of this paper suggest that higher life satisfaction is correlated with lesser experience of unpleasant events such as labor market shock or economic distress, mostly in the recent past. Social capital such as trust, participation in civic groups, and financial stability lead to higher satisfaction, whereas lower relative position to a reference group leaves one with lower life satisfaction. The paper also finds substantial regional variation in life satisfaction between European, Balkan, and lower and middle-income Commonwealth of Independent States. Finally, after controlling for various events that took place during the interview and the nature of refusal of the respondents across countries, the authors show that reported life satisfaction is lower if the emotional state is negative during the interview.CC BY 3.0 IGOAGE GROUPSAGEDBEREAVEMENTCOUNTRY LEVELCROSS-SECTION DATADECISION MAKINGDEMOCRACYECONOMIC GROWTHEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL APPLICATIONEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL FINDINGSEMPIRICAL MODELEMPIRICAL RESEARCHEMPIRICAL WORKEXERCISESEXPENDITUREEXPENDITURESHEALTH SERVICESHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHUMAN CAPITALINCOMEINCOME EFFECTINCOME GROUPSINCOME LEVELINCOME LEVELSINCOMESINEQUALITYLABOR FORCELABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOR MARKETLABOR SUPPLYLIFE EVENTSLOW INCOMEMARKET ECONOMYMEASUREMENT ERRORMEASUREMENT ERRORSMEDIAN INCOMEMIGRATIONMUTUAL INSURANCENEGATIVE CORRELATIONNEGATIVE EFFECTNEGATIVE SIGNOLDER PEOPLEPARTICULAR COUNTRYPERSONALITYPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOOR COUNTRIESPOPULATION SHAREPOSITIVE COEFFICIENTPOSITIVE CORRELATIONPOSITIVE EFFECTPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRISONSPSYCHOLOGISTSPSYCHOLOGYPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGYPUBLIC ECONOMICSPUBLIC GOODSPUBLIC POLICYQUALITY OF LIFEREGIONAL DIFFERENCESRELATIVE EARNINGSRELATIVE INCOMERELATIVE POSITIONRISK SHARINGSENSITIVITY ANALYSISSIBLINGSSOCIAL CAPITALSOCIAL RESEARCHSTANDARD OF LIVINGUNEMPLOYEDUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITSVOLATILITYWAGESWORKERSWOUNDSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5526