Are socialists happier
than capitalists?
June 9,
2009
Driven by a decline in satisfaction with work life and family life,
overall well-being initially plummeted in countries directly
affected by the fall of the Iron Curtain, reveals an important new
study.
The research, forthcoming in the August 2009 issue of the Journal
of Economic Behavior and Organization, expands our understanding of
the correlation between happiness and democracy — and whether
economic concerns outweigh political reforms in their impact on
subjective well-being.
"Although one might suppose these questions are of interest — some
might even say fundamental interest, considering that they involve
comparing capitalism and socialism — they have received little
attention in the voluminous literature on transition economies,"
says Richard Easterlin, USC University Professor and professor of
economics at USC.
Easterlin examines life satisfaction in thirteen countries in the
so-called communist-bloc using self-reported data from a range of
sources, particularly the World Values Survey. Communist-bloc
countries first appeared in the large-scale Survey in 1989, when a
representative population in each country was asked to rate "life
these days, as a whole" on a scale of 1 (dissatisfied) to 10
(satisfied).
Other surveys before and after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991
asked similar questions about specific aspects of life — such as
work, health, and standard of living — and about "the way democracy
works in (your country)."
"The dissolution of the police states and increase in political and
civil rights in many of the transition countries might have been
expected to increase life satisfaction," Easterlin says. "The sharp
decline that initially occurred suggests that adverse economic and
social conditions trumped the political in their impact on
subjective well-being."
The study finds that the trend in overall satisfaction with
democracy is actually slightly negatively correlated to the trend
in reported happiness after the fall of the Iron Curtain. This
correlation is not statistically significant, according to
Easterlin, but undermines the assertion by some scholars that
democratization in these countries significantly increased
happiness.
"There is evidence that, when asked about their sources of
well-being, people rarely mention political circumstances,"
Easterlin explains. "Rather, they put foremost those concerns that
principally occupy their time, most notably making a living, family
life and health."
Satisfaction with work, childcare and health all decreased
significantly during the transition from socialism to capitalism,
reflecting a marked rise in symptoms of social stress such as
divorce rates, suicide rates, domestic violence and increased
alcoholism and drug use, Easterlin finds.
However, people were much more satisfied with one particular aspect
of their lives after the fall of the Soviet Union: their material
circumstances, including standard of living, goods availability and
the environment.
"The positive contribution of life satisfaction to improved
material living was outweighed by losses in employment security,
health and child care, and provision for old age," Easterlin
says.
Disparities in life satisfaction also increased after the fall of
the Soviet Union, particularly along the lines of age and
education. Those older than 30, who had already established careers
under the socialist system, were far more likely to be dissatisfied
with life under capitalism than younger adults. Older people also
faced the deterioration of old-age pension support and rising
unemployment rates.
Men and women had about equal declines in life satisfaction,
Easterlin finds.
"The human cost of the transition was enormous, with the lives of
millions turned upside down," Easterlin says. "The impact of these
changes on people's personal lives and their well-being is almost
totally missed by GDP per capita."
While life satisfaction had rebounded somewhat by 1999, there is
evidence to suggest that even by 2005 it had not yet reach
pre-transition levels, according to the study. By this time, GDP in
the countries studied had increased 25 percent on average since the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
"The life satisfaction measure, which reflects not only material
well-being, but the everyday concerns and worries of women and men
about work, health and family, is more indicative of the
far-reaching changes that were taking place," Easterlin says.
He continues: "Life satisfaction is not an exhaustive measure of
well-being. But if, in formulating transition policy, some
consideration had been given to this measure, perhaps there would
have been fewer 'lost in transition.'"
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University of Southern California
Thanks to University of Southern
California for this article.