Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

This article examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, the article examines how this monetary shock affects individuals' evaluations of well-being. This...

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Main Authors:	Hariri, Jacob Gerner, Bjørnskov, Christian, Justesen, Mogens K.
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2015
Subjects:	subjective well-being economic shocks currency devaluation quasi-experiment
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21648

id	okr-10986-21648
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-216482021-04-23T14:04:03Z Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment Hariri, Jacob Gerner Bjørnskov, Christian Justesen, Mogens K. subjective well-being economic shocks currency devaluation quasi-experiment This article examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, the article examines how this monetary shock affects individuals' evaluations of well-being. This is done by using microlevel survey data, which—incidentally—were collected in the days surrounding the devaluation. The chance occurrence of the devaluation during the time of the survey enables us to use pretreatment respondents, surveyed before the devaluation, as approximate counterfactuals for post-treatment respondents, surveyed after the devaluation. Estimates show that the devaluation had a large and significantly negative effect on individuals' evaluations of subjective well-being. These results suggest that macroeconomic shocks, such as unanticipated currency devaluations, may have significant short-term costs in the form of reductions in people's sense of well-being. 2015-03-30T21:42:13Z 2015-03-30T21:42:13Z 2015-03 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21648 en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7209 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank Group, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Botswana
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	subjective well-being economic shocks currency devaluation quasi-experiment
spellingShingle	subjective well-being economic shocks currency devaluation quasi-experiment Hariri, Jacob Gerner Bjørnskov, Christian Justesen, Mogens K. Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment
geographic_facet	Africa Botswana
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7209
description	This article examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, the article examines how this monetary shock affects individuals' evaluations of well-being. This is done by using microlevel survey data, which—incidentally—were collected in the days surrounding the devaluation. The chance occurrence of the devaluation during the time of the survey enables us to use pretreatment respondents, surveyed before the devaluation, as approximate counterfactuals for post-treatment respondents, surveyed after the devaluation. Estimates show that the devaluation had a large and significantly negative effect on individuals' evaluations of subjective well-being. These results suggest that macroeconomic shocks, such as unanticipated currency devaluations, may have significant short-term costs in the form of reductions in people's sense of well-being.
format	Working Paper
author	Hariri, Jacob Gerner Bjørnskov, Christian Justesen, Mogens K.
author_facet	Hariri, Jacob Gerner Bjørnskov, Christian Justesen, Mogens K.
author_sort	Hariri, Jacob Gerner
title	Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment
title_short	Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment
title_full	Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment
title_fullStr	Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment
title_full_unstemmed	Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment
title_sort	economic shocks and subjective well-being : evidence from a quasi-experiment
publisher	World Bank Group, Washington, DC
publishDate	2015
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21648
_version_	1764448872035254272

Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

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