Transition Studies Review

, Volume 17, Issue 1, pp 39–62 | Cite as

The Money–Happiness Relationship in Transition Countries: Evidence from Albania

Transition Finance, Banking and Currency Research
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

With an empirical analysis on a panel of individuals living in a transition country (Albania) we document that the impact of money on happiness does not depend only on the pecuniary outcome but also on aspirations and conditions leading to its determination. Additional factors which matter are the self perceived economic status and the share earned from remittances (and, more weakly, from social assistance). By looking at different sides of the phenomenon we find that these factors affect levels, changes in income and the probability of being “frustrated achievers”. Finally, unlike what happens in developed countries, higher income levels are negatively and not positively correlated with the probability of frustrated achievement thereby supporting the hypothesis that individuals in transition countries are not in the upper side of a concave happiness-income relationship.

Keywords

Life satisfaction Remittances Subsidies Transition countries 

JEL Classification

I30 C33 O15 P20 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of EconomicsTor Vergata UniversityRomeItaly

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