@techreport{NBERw9619, title = "Is Business Cycle Volatility Costly? Evidence from Surveys of Subjective Wellbeing", author = "Justin Wolfers", institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research", type = "Working Paper", series = "Working Paper Series", number = "9619", year = "2003", month = "April", doi = {10.3386/w9619}, URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w9619", abstract = {This paper analyzes the effects of business cycle volatility on measures of subjective well-being, including self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. I find robust evidence that high inflation and, to a greater extent, unemployment lower perceived well-being. Greater macroeconomic volatility also undermines well-being. These effects are moderate but important: eliminating unemployment volatility would raise well-being by an amount roughly equal to that from lowering the average level of unemployment by a quarter of a percentage point. The effects of inflation volatility on well-being are less easy to detect and are likely smaller.}, }