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Unemployment, Social Capital, and Subjective Well-Being

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Abstract

It has been shown in past research that unemployment has a large negative impact on subjective well-being of individuals. In this paper, I explore whether and to what extent people with more social capital are sheltered from the harmful effects of unemployment. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984–2004, I find that social capital is an important predictor of well-being levels, but there is no evidence that it moderates the effect of unemployment on well-being. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research given.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute, Zurichbergstr. 14, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Rainer Winkelmann

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  1. Rainer Winkelmann
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Correspondence to Rainer Winkelmann.

Additional information

This paper was written while I was visiting scholar at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, MI. I am grateful to the Institute for its hospitality, to Andrew Clark, Andrew Oswald and three anonymous referees for valuable comments, and to the German Socio Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin, for providing the data.

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Winkelmann, R. Unemployment, Social Capital, and Subjective Well-Being. J Happiness Stud 10, 421–430 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9097-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9097-2

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