Perceived happiness, perceived trust and perceived income levels: The case of the reunified Germany

This study explored the possible impact of perceived income on individual (perceived) happiness in Eastern and Western Germany in relation to perceived trust and four socio-economic variables, namely gender, age, marital status and employment status. To examine the relationship between these variables, a generalized ordered logit model was applied using the World Values Survey data. Bootstrapping and marginal effects were used to obtain a more robust model. The findings provided insights regarding the impact of perceived income and perceived trust on individual (perceived) happiness in both regions after reunification. Perceived income had a positive effect on all happiness categories in both regions. Perceived trust had a stronger positive impact on individual happiness than that of perceived income, although its significance varied across individual (perceived) happiness categories. Analysis of marginal effects revealed differences between the base models. Key words: Perceived happiness, Perceived income, East-West Germany, Reunification, Generalized ordered logit models.JEL: C50, C83, I31. Percipirana sreca, percipirano poverenje i percipirani nivoi prihoda: slucaj ujedinjene Nemacke U radu se analizira moguci uticaj percipiranog prihoda na individualnu (percipiranu) srecu u Istocnoj i Zapadnoj Nemackoj u odnosu na percipirano poverenje i cetiri socio-ekonomske varijable, konkretno, pol, godine, bracni status i status zaposlenja. Kako bi se ispitala veza između ovih varijabli, primenjen je generalizovani poređeni logit model koriscenjem podataka istraživanja Svetskih vrednosti. Za dobijanje robusnijeg modela korisceni su bootstrap metode i marginalni efekti. Rezultati su pružili uvid u uticaj percipiranog prihoda i percipiranog poverenja na individualnu (percipiranu) srecu u oba regiona nakon ponovnog ujedinjenja. Percipirani dohodak imao je pozitivan efekat na sve kategorije srece u oba regiona. Percipirano poverenje je imalo jaci pozitivan uticaj na individualnu srecu od percipiranog prihoda, iako se njegov znacaj razlikovao u pojedinim kategorijama individualne (percipirane) srece. Analiza granicnih efekata otkrila je razlike između osnovnih modela. Kljucne reci: Percipirana sreca, percepirani dohodak, Istocna i Zapadna Nemacka, ponovno ujedinjenje, generalizovani poređeni logit modeli.