| The two essays in this dissertation share in common an attempt to study the transition process in terms of its effect on people's subjective well-being, in addition to the objective conditions traditionally emphasized in economics. The first essay focuses on the particular area of job satisfaction, while the second analyzes overall life satisfaction.;As the transition progresses is there a convergence in terms of job satisfaction between Eastern and Western Europe? I analyze the level of satisfaction with work and its determinants in each of the two regions for the decade and a half following the fall of communism, using data from the World Values Survey and the International Social Survey Programme "Work Orientations" module. Job satisfaction in transition countries is significantly lower than in the West. These countries experience a significant decrease in satisfaction with work between 1990 and 1999, followed by a significant increase by 2005. In non-transition countries, there is no significant change throughout this interval. As a result, the job satisfaction gap between East and West first expands and then shrinks. This gap is mainly the result of differences in macroeconomic conditions between the two regions. Not everyone in Eastern Europe is affected the same way by the transition, young and more educated, more skilled individuals being among the winners of the process.;Since 1989 Poland has been considered a leader in economic reform, but did the process of transition from a planned economy to a free market model make its people happier? Using data from the World Values Survey and the Eurobarometer, I find a collapse followed by recovery in life satisfaction. Despite the fact that GDP per capita quickly recovers to pre-transition levels, higher unemployment and involuntary early retirement take their toll on the happiness of the Polish people, which is one of the reasons why the recovery in terms of subjective well-being takes longer than the economic recovery. The eventual recovery of life satisfaction is also made possible by birth cohort replacement -- new generations appear to be better adjusted to the new society and better equipped to deal with the negative side effects of transition. |
