Review of Economic Studies Vol. 87 No. 6 2020

Long-Run Effects of Lottery Wealth on Psychological Well-Being

Erik Lindqvist¹; Robert Östling²; David Cesarini³

¹ Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, and Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) · ² Stockholm School of Economics and IFN · ³ New York University, NBER, and IFN

Abstract

We surveyed a large sample of Swedish lottery players about their psychological well-being 5–22 years after a major lottery event and analysed the data following pre-registered procedures. Relative to matched controls, large-prize winners experience sustained increases in overall life satisfaction that persist for over a decade and show no evidence of dissipating over time. The estimated treatment effects on happiness and mental health are significantly smaller. Follow-up analyses of domain-specific aspects of life satisfaction implicate financial life satisfaction as an important mediator for the long-run increase in overall life satisfaction.

DOI

10.1093/restud/rdaa006

Volume

87

Issue

6

Pages

2703-2726

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

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