Rising Economic Prosperity and Social Quality the Case of New Member States of the European Union

Abstract

This paper considers whether rising economic prosperity in the New Member States of the European Union since joining the EU is also reflected in better a quality of life and what constitutes a better quality of society for the citizens of these countries. The paper contributes to the debate about the relationship between economic conditions and subjective well-being by showing that the factors that contribute to the latter have not only changed with economic growth but that subjective life satisfaction has also improved. Here we consider how this relationship can be explained by using the Social Quality model to measure the quality of society. We look specifically at the New Member States of the European Union (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) using the European Quality of Life Surveys for 2003 and 2007. This covers a period during which the economic conditions of these societies improved and they modernised. The social quality model explains a great deal of the variance in life satisfaction and helps us to show that as well as economic factors, other aspects of the quality of society, such as social integration and empowerment, are also important. We argue that economic and social factors have to be understood as interacting with other aspects of society if we seek to understand the quality of society.

Appendix

1.1 Variables Used in the Analysis Dependent Variable

Social Satisfaction

All things considered, how satisfied would you say you are with your life these days? Please tell me on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means very dissatisfied and 10 means very satisfied.

To construct our model we use a number of variables as indicators of the underlying constructs we were interested in. Age—a continuous variable Gender coded 1 = male, 2 = female.

For economic security we used:

• 1. The income of the household;

Please can you tell me how much your household’s NET income is? If you don’t know the exact figure, please give an estimate.

• 2. A deprivation index constructed from a series of question concerning the ability to buy essential goods and services as a measure of relative deprivation⁴.

There are some things that many people cannot afford, even if they would like. For each of the following —–can your household afford it if you want it?

Keeping your house adequately warm

Paying for a week’s annual holiday away from home(not staying with relatives)

Replacing any worn-out furniture A meal with meat chicken or fish every second day Buying new rather than second hand clothes Having friends or family for a drink or a meal at least once a month

Cronbach’s Alpha: 2003 0.86; 2007 0.84.

• 3. Inability to afford to buy basic food as a measure of absolute poverty coded 1 = yeas, 2 = no;

Has your household at any time during the last 12 months run out of the money to pay for food?

• 4. Assessment of adequacy of the income of the household as a more subjective measurer of relative deprivation, coded from 1 = very easily to 6 with difficulty.

A household may have different sources of income and more than one household member may contribute to it. Thinking of your household’s total monthly income: is your household able to make ends meet—?

For social cohesion we used:

• 1. General trust;

Generally speaking would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people? Please tell me on a scale of 1–10, where 1 means that you can’t be too careful and 10 means that most people can be trusted.

• 2. Trust in government

2003 A scale computed from trust in the state pension and social security systems with 1 = a great deal of trust and 4 no trust at all. The coding was reversed to make it correspond with 2007.

How much trust do you have in the ability of the following two systems to deliver when you need it? State pension system, Social benefit system

Chronbach’s Alpha 0.78

2007 Measured on a 10 point scale where 1 = do not trust at all and 10 = trust completely;

Please tell me how much you personally trust the government?

• 3. Perception of social conflict—a scale computed from the responses to a series of questions on the extent of tension between different social groups

In all countries there sometimes exists tension between social groups. In your opinion how much tension is there between each of the following groups in this country? Poor and rich people Management and workers Men and women Old people and young people Different racial groups and ethnic groups Different religious groups

Cronbach’s Alpha: 2003 0.7; 2007 0.76

For social integration we used

• 1. The answers to a series of questions on social support recoded to would not get support and would get support and entered as dummies—0 = no support, 1 = support;

From whom would you get support in each of the following situations?

If you needed help around the house when ill If you needed advice about a serious personal or family matter If you were feeling bit depressed and wanting to talk to someone If you urgently needed to raise a 1,000 Euros to face an emergency (NMS = 500 Euros)

• 2. The answers to a series of questions on frequency of contact with friends and relatives dichotomised to frequent contact (once a week or more) other. As we were interested in social integration we coded those without relatives as other;

On average, thinking of the people living outside your household how often do you have direct (face-to-face contact with any of your children, your mother or father, any of your friends and neighbours?

• 1. Married—coded 0 = not married/living with a partner, 1 = married/living with a partner;

• 2. Vote in elections as an indicator of identification with the society, coded 1 Yes, 2 No;

Some people don’t vote nowadays for one reason or another. Did you vote in the last (country) national election?

5. Active in a political party/trade union as the only measure in the data set for formal social capital available in both years, coded 1 = yes, 2 = no

2003 Over the past year, have you attended a meeting of a trade union, or a political party, a political action group, attended a protest or demonstrated or signed a petition?

2007 Over the past year, have you attended a meeting of a trade union, or a political party or a political action group?

6. The extent to which the respondent felt left out of society measured on a scale from 1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree as a subjective indicator of social integration.

I feel left out of society

For social empowerment we used;

• 1. Education coded from 1 = none to 7 = tertiary education (ISCED)

What is the highest level of education that you completed?

• 2. Self evaluation of health from 1 very good to 5 very bad;

In general, would you say your health is —

• 3. The extent to which respondents felt in control of their lives.

Life has become so complicated today that I almost can’t find my way

Coded from 1 strongly agree to 5 strongly disagree