Life satisfaction and the economic and social characteristics of neighbourhoods

Michael A Shields, Stephen Wheatley Price, Mark Wooden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

173 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to investigate the association between neighbourhood effects and life satisfaction. We find that neighbourhood measures of social support and interaction and the absence of socio-economic deprivation are positively and significantly correlated with individual life satisfaction. Neighbourhood fixed effects, however, explain only an additional 1.5 to 2.5 of the variance in life satisfaction over the 14 explained by individual characteristics.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)421 - 443
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Population Economics
Volume22
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes

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