Identifying Welfare Effects from Subjective Questions

We argue that the welfare inferences drawn from answers to subjective-qualitative survey questions are clouded by concerns over the structure of measurement errors and how latent psychological factors influence observed respondent characteristics. We propose a panel data model that allows more robust tests and we estimate the model on a high-quality survey for Russia. We find significant income effects on an individual’s subjective economic welfare. Demographic effects are weak at given income per capita. Ill-health and becoming unemployed lower welfare at given current income, although the unemployment effect is not robust, and returning to work does not restore welfare without an income gain.