Income had little impact on wellbeing

SHARP INCOME increases during the Celtic Tiger had little impact on well being, a study by a leading UCD economist has concluded.

Because Ireland had already achieved relatively high levels of wealth before the boom, further increases in income had little affect on people’s psychological wellbeing, the research revealed.

Findings from the study Well-Being under conditions of abundance: Ireland from 1990 to 2007, were presented by Dr Liam Delaney of the UCD School of Economics at the AGM of the The Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland last night.

Wellbeing was mainly measured by looking at people’s levels of psychological distress.

This included the ability to concentrate, feeling capable of making decisions, feeling under strain, feeling happy and feeling self-confident.

Employment, health and marital separation had a very large impact on people’s sense of well-being during the boom while income had a tiny impact.

Thus moving from the bottom 15 per cent of the income bracket to the top 15 per cent of the income bracket had little impact on people’s psychological distress, particularly when compared with having a job, being healthy or having social contact.

Irish people became substantially more satisfied with their jobs during the Celtic Tiger but they were not much more satisfied with their leisure or housing situations, the study revealed.

A dramatic increase in suicide among young men during the years of the boom was one of the stark findings which the analysis revealed.

However, improvements included steep increases in life expectancy for over 65s.

Dr Delaney explained that in the decades before the boom Ireland had already reached a certain level of wealth and had seen sharp improvements in areas like sanitation, housing, infant mortality and health.

Thus GDP increases of some 8 per cent for much of the period of the boom had little impact on wellbeing, Dr Delaney concluded.

The analysis was based on a range of statistical surveys including the European Community Household Panel (ECHP).