(Tartu Ülikool, 2017) Dimitrova, Lyubomira; Ehin, Piret, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Defining and measuring happiness has been a major topic for many generations of
scholars. The contemporary discussion tackles upon the main predictors of happiness
and their influence on the subject. This paper focuses on the influence of democracy and
economy towards happiness, using the fifteen post- Soviet countries as cases. The data
for the research has been collected from 1995 to 2014 and has been analyzed both on
aggregate and individual level. The results show that on individual level both the
economic status and the satisfaction with democracy have significant influence towards
happiness. However, on aggregate level the income inequality appears to be the only
predictor of happiness in both cases where the democracy factor is controlled for or not.