Satisfaction as an outcome, as a means and as a cause

Kumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2020

This dissertation analyzes large-scale panel data on individual satisfaction in three self-contained empirical studies, each taking a different perspective on individual satisfaction and using appropriate econometric methods accordingly.
In its first empirical analysis, the thesis addresses the obvious question of satisfaction as an outcome, here if life satisfaction is an outcome of education. Results of the instrumental variable estimation, using German NEPS data, show that education has no effect on life satisfaction, yet on some of its determinants.
Based on the idea that income is a fundamental of financial satisfaction, the second analysis concludes from satisfaction to its cause: Intra-household satisfaction differences are used as a means to approach the intra-household income distribution. Panel fixed effects estimations on German SOEP data show that couples share their income according to their individual financial contribution to the household‘s income.
Finally, the last analysis, which also uses SOEP data, explores the question whether satisfaction could also be the cause of a typical determinant of itself, i.e. of income. This analysis also uses SOEP data and an recent synthetic instrumental variable approach. Results suggest that satisfaction causes income, while income tends not to cause satisfaction.