{"title":"Fairness, expectations and life satisfaction: evidence from Europe","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s10663-023-09602-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>This study aims to investigate whether individual beliefs about the fairness of society can account for differences in life satisfaction. Fairness here encompasses both procedural and distributive justice. The paper uses fifth-round individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS). The round in question contains information that can be used as a proxy for procedural justice, in the form of individual assessment of how the courts operate in their country. It also contains variables that will serve as a proxy for distributive justice. To that end we use survey information on individual assessment of whether pay is appropriate as well as a variable measuring the gap between received and expected pay. The latter is constructed using pay information and individuals’ personal demographic and productive features, as well as information on the characteristics of their workplace. The hypothesis that life satisfaction is impacted by perceived unfairness cannot be rejected. Furthermore, we find that dissatisfaction with pay increases when individuals have a negative view of procedural justice.</p>","PeriodicalId":46526,"journal":{"name":"Empirica","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Empirica","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-023-09602-y","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study aims to investigate whether individual beliefs about the fairness of society can account for differences in life satisfaction. Fairness here encompasses both procedural and distributive justice. The paper uses fifth-round individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS). The round in question contains information that can be used as a proxy for procedural justice, in the form of individual assessment of how the courts operate in their country. It also contains variables that will serve as a proxy for distributive justice. To that end we use survey information on individual assessment of whether pay is appropriate as well as a variable measuring the gap between received and expected pay. The latter is constructed using pay information and individuals’ personal demographic and productive features, as well as information on the characteristics of their workplace. The hypothesis that life satisfaction is impacted by perceived unfairness cannot be rejected. Furthermore, we find that dissatisfaction with pay increases when individuals have a negative view of procedural justice.
期刊介绍:
Empirica is a peer-reviewed journal, which publishes original research of general interest to an international audience. Authors are invited to submit empirical papers in all areas of economics with a particular focus on European economies. Per January 2021, the editors also solicit descriptive papers on current or unexplored topics.
Founded in 1974, Empirica is the official journal of the Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft (Austrian Economic Association) and is published in cooperation with Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO). The journal aims at a wide international audience and invites submissions from economists around the world.
Officially cited as: Empirica