Unemployed, uncompliant, and unhappy – impact of COVID19 in the Western Balkans
Session
Political Science
Description
The subject of this study seeks to analyse national differences in Covid-19 in relation to on labour market performance and their effects on life satisfaction. We contribute to the literature by studying whether job loss or fear of it from the Covid-19 lockdown is related to lack of compliance with recommendations from government authorities for the case of the countries in the Western Balkan, and whether this makes people unhappier. The unique setting of Covid-19 fits with the characteristics of a large-scale, quasi-natural experiment: conformation with a homogeneous set of behaviours for an uncertain length of time was required for almost everybody in the population. However, people differ in terms of personal health risk, i.e. medical conditions more prone for fatal Covid-19 effects, or close networks health risk, i.e. family and/or work community requirements. Exploiting a novel nationally representative database for the Western Balkans countries, we run within country estimations to look whether job insecurity and job loss from Covid-19 predicts self-reported individual compliance during the more pronounced stage of the 2020 lockdown. We use these results to estimate their effects on happiness. We carry out a cross-national comparison with the small set of countries in the Western Balkans, a region which reported low levels of happiness in 2016 compared to the East- and West-European Union countries. Our findings suggest that (fear of) losing of own employment or that of a family member/friend increases the propensity for non-compliance rules in general and intentions to vaccinate in particular. As expected, job insecurity or job loss makes one less happy for all the Western Balkans countries but distinctions in institutional setting and pandemic management are significant in explaining country differences.
Keywords:
Covid-19, life satisfaction, well-being, post-communist, western Balkans
Proceedings Editor
Edmond Hajrizi
ISBN
978-9951-550-47-5
Location
UBT Kampus, Lipjan
Start Date
30-10-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
30-10-2021 12:00 AM
DOI
10.33107/ubt-ic.2021.246
Recommended Citation
Drishti, Elvisa, "Unemployed, uncompliant, and unhappy – impact of COVID19 in the Western Balkans" (2021). UBT International Conference. 256.
https://knowledgecenter.ubt-uni.net/conference/2021UBTIC/all-events/256
Unemployed, uncompliant, and unhappy – impact of COVID19 in the Western Balkans
UBT Kampus, Lipjan
The subject of this study seeks to analyse national differences in Covid-19 in relation to on labour market performance and their effects on life satisfaction. We contribute to the literature by studying whether job loss or fear of it from the Covid-19 lockdown is related to lack of compliance with recommendations from government authorities for the case of the countries in the Western Balkan, and whether this makes people unhappier. The unique setting of Covid-19 fits with the characteristics of a large-scale, quasi-natural experiment: conformation with a homogeneous set of behaviours for an uncertain length of time was required for almost everybody in the population. However, people differ in terms of personal health risk, i.e. medical conditions more prone for fatal Covid-19 effects, or close networks health risk, i.e. family and/or work community requirements. Exploiting a novel nationally representative database for the Western Balkans countries, we run within country estimations to look whether job insecurity and job loss from Covid-19 predicts self-reported individual compliance during the more pronounced stage of the 2020 lockdown. We use these results to estimate their effects on happiness. We carry out a cross-national comparison with the small set of countries in the Western Balkans, a region which reported low levels of happiness in 2016 compared to the East- and West-European Union countries. Our findings suggest that (fear of) losing of own employment or that of a family member/friend increases the propensity for non-compliance rules in general and intentions to vaccinate in particular. As expected, job insecurity or job loss makes one less happy for all the Western Balkans countries but distinctions in institutional setting and pandemic management are significant in explaining country differences.