How do people in the Western Balkans perceive their lives in the aftermaths of the 2008 crisis?

Radovanović, Bojana (2014) How do people in the Western Balkans perceive their lives in the aftermaths of the 2008 crisis? In: Contemporary trends and prospects of economic recovery. CEMAFI International Association, Nice, pp. 241-257. ISBN 978-2-9544508-5-8

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Abstract

In estimating the prospects for economic recovery after the 2008 global economic crisis understanding how people perceive their lives is necessary in two regards. On the one hand, it is argued that those individuals who report higher well-being are able to recover faster and feel better able to contribute to and support their organizations, communities, or countries. On the other, if the recovery of the economies is sought only in terms of economic growth, we would know nothing on how growth influences people’s lives. In order to overcome the shortcomings of economic indicators, a concept of subjective well-being (SWB) has been introduced. Instead of indirect estimation of the quality of people’s lives, people are directly asked to judge the level of well-being they achieve. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of main tenets of the concept of subjective wellbeing, and to give an insight on the level of subjective well-being of the people in the Western Balkan countries based on the Global Well-Being Index. In this paper, we demonstrate that the people in the Western Balkans are on average experiencing lower well-being than the inhabitants of the OECD countries and the Europe as a whole. Only in the social well-being are people in the Western Balkans reaching European average.

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