The impact of economic and demographic events in the biography of Russians on the level of their life satisfaction

Abstract

The article examines anticipation and adaptation effects in relation to life satisfaction in case of economic (related to labour market) and demographic events in people’s lives. The author estimates how individuals feel in the vicinity of significant life events and tracks the asymmetry of results for women and men. The calculations are based on panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for the period 2004–2019. Using pooled regression and the difference-in-differences approach, the author tests the hypothesis that men are more sensitive to economic events while women are more sensitive to demographic ones. The results indicate that there is no consistent asymmetry of effects for men and women. On average, citizens of Russia tend to anticipate events that will happen to them in the next three years. Generally, Russians do not adapt to new conditions after economic events, however, this does not apply to individual demographic shocks.