Economic Freedom, Individual Perceptions of Life Control, and Life Satisfaction
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Happiness economics has shown that the degree to which people feel they are in control of their lives positively correlates with personal life satisfaction. In a parallel manner, economic freedom has been found to exert an independent impact on life satisfaction over and above the impact on per-capita income levels and other indicators of material well-being. In this chapter, the authors put both of these strands together and establish that economic freedom exerts a strong and persistent impact on both individual life control and life satisfaction. Employing data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study, their findings show that living in a country with high overall economic freedom is a major determinant of perceived personal control over one’s life. Thus, the authors show that economic freedom has a direct positive influence on life satisfaction and also influences individual happiness by providing people with more control over their own lives.