Direct Democracy and Life Satisfaction Revisited: new evidence for Switzerland

Publication Type
Journal contribution
Authors
Sousa-Poza, A/Dorn, D/Fischer, JA/Kirchgässner, G
Year of publication
2008
Published in
Journal of Happiness Studies
ISBN / ISSN / eISSN
1389-4978
DOI
10.1007/s10902-007-9050-9
Page (from - to)
227-255
Abstract

We re-evaluate the relation between cantonal direct democracy and perceived subjective well-being in Switzerland using new data from the Swiss Household Panel. In addition, this study goes beyond previous work by carefully controlling for cultural determinants of happiness such as languages and religion. We find that once language is controlled for, no robust significant relationship between the extent of direct democracy and life satisfaction can be observed. The results also show that direct democracy does not affect well-being within language groups in Switzerland.

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