PEOPLE’S WELL-BEING AND ECONOMIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This thesis shows that movements in different industry sectors have significant and different effects on the individual’s subjective well-being. Using subjective well-being data of Europe and disaggregated macroeconomic data from five industry sectors (agriculture, construction, manufacturing, finance, and wholesale \& retail), we demonstrate that subjective well-being is correlated with the growth of each industry sector, and the impact of different industry sectors differ in size, duration, and influence mechanism. In addition, we also find an asymmetry in the effects of positive and negative economic growth on subjective well-being. The well-being loss caused by recessions is greater in both magnitude and statistical significance. People’s subjective well-being is mainly driven by periods of negative growth. Besides that, we also further studied from supply and demand side, determined the positive correlation between consumer surplus and social well-being, while the impact of supply side is negative. This research provides a new perspective on well-being and macroeconomic performance and has implications for growth policy.