The Rolling 50s (and More): Cars and Life Satisfaction Among Seniors Across Europe
| Résumé |
Cars represent a valuable real asset that most individuals use on a
daily basis. Although cars are a form of material prosperity like
income and other forms of wealth, the link between cars and
subjective well-being (SWB) is barely covered in the existing
literature. Furthermore, few existing contributions are scattered
across specific cultural contexts. Here, we analyze the
relationship between cars and the SWB of seniors in different
European countries using the SHARE dataset. We construct multilevel
and fixed-effect models to explore the extent of economic,
infrastructural, and cultural factors and how they can explain this
relationship. The results show that the value of the car is, among
all wealth components (houses, bank account, bonds, stocks, mutual
funds, debts and mortgages), the form of wealth most related to
life satisfaction. In addition, cars matter less (a) in affluent
societies, (b) where rail infrastructure is more developed, and (c)
where people hold fewer materialistic values. We discuss these
results in the framework of the functional and positional value of
cars, i.e., respectively, the value derived from it regardless of
others and the value derived from it vis-à-vis others. |
| Mots-clés |
Wealth . Car . SWB . Elderly . Sustainable development . Materialistic values |
| Citation | Brulé, G., Ravazzini, L., & Suter, C. (2020). The Rolling 50s (and More): Cars and Life Satisfaction Among Seniors Across Europe. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1, 1-20. |
| Type | Article de périodique (Anglais) |
| Date de publication | 24-11-2020 |
| Nom du périodique | Applied Research in Quality of Life |
| Volume | 1 |
| Pages | 1-20 |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11482-020-09887-2 |
| Liée au projet | La distribution de la fortune en Suisse et en Allemagne :... |