COVID-19 policy responses and subjective well-being

Figures & data

Figure 1. Distribution life satisfaction response.

Table 1. COVID-19 support payments and subjective well-being (full baseline results).

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB
Job seeker’s payment	0.094***
	(0.015)
Quarantine payment		0.065**
		(0.022)
Stimulus payment			0.076***
			(0.024)
Rent relief payment				0.054**
				(0.025)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.071***
					(0.008)
Age	−0.060*	−0.095**	−0.002	−0.016	−0.003
	(0.035)	(0.034)	(0.003)	(0.094)	(0.003)
Female	−0.198***	−0.181***	−0.196***	−0.196***	−0.198***
	(0.064)	(0.063)	(0.064)	(0.064)	(0.071)
Employed	0.063***	0.065***	0.062***	0.060***	0.059***
	(0.013)	(0.013)	(0.013)	(0.013)	(0.015)
Total children	−0.074	−0.095	−0.071	−0.072	−0.055
	(0.107)	(0.106)	(0.107)	(0.107)	(0.120)
Separated or divorced	−0.526***	−0.531***	−0.521***	−0.523***	−0.484***
	(0.125)	(0.124)	(0.125)	(0.125)	(0.138)
Widowed	−0.127	−0.120	−0.125	−0.124	−0.171
	(0.203)	(0.203)	(0.204)	(0.204)	(0.229)
Household size	−0.007	−0.017	−0.008	−0.006	−0.014
	(0.033)	(0.033)	(0.033)	(0.033)	(0.037)
Certificate	0.375***	0.374***	0.375***	0.374***	0.375***
	(0.018)	(0.017)	(0.018)	(0.018)	(0.019)
Diploma	0.022	0.029	0.016	0.018	0.034
	(0.094)	(0.094)	(0.094)	(0.094)	(0.105)
Bachelor	0.158*	0.146	0.160*	0.159*	0.196*
	(0.092)	(0.092)	(0.092)	(0.092)	(0.102)
Postgraduate certificate	0.208**	0.210**	0.205**	0.206**	0.221**
	(0.089)	(0.089)	(0.089)	(0.089)	(0.100)
Constant	3.221***	3.094***	3.232***	3.247***	3.217***
	(0.248)	(0.242)	(0.246)	(0.246)	(0.271)
Year fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
State fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448
R^2	0.095	0.112	0.085	0.015	0.082

Standard errors in parentheses. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 2. COVID-19 support payments and subjective well-being (Lewbel (2012) 2SLS results).

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Variables	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB
Jobseeker’s payment	0.196***
	(0.064)
Quarantine payment		0.181***
		(0.063)
Stimulus payment			0.177***
			(0.067)
Rent relief payment				0.174***
				(0.018)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.121**
					(0.060)
State fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Year fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448
Hansen J stat	39.71	29.91	36.91	34.81	33.21
Hansen J p-value	0.071	0.102	0.084	0.103	0.092
Breusch-Pagan test	0.002	0.001	0.002	0.004	0.003
R^2	0.111	0.102	0.107	0.091	0.089
F-statistics	55.01	71.51	44.61	63.11	44.11

Standard errors are in parentheses. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. All regression includes relevant control variables.

Table 3. COVID-19 support payments and subjective well-being.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Variables	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB
Panel A: Male
Jobseeker’s payment	0.199***
	(0.064)
Quarantine payment		0.198***
		(0.071)
Stimulus payment			0.114***
			(0.024)
Rent relief payment				0.119***
				(0.011)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.184***
					(0.013)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	10,138	10,138	10,138	10,138	10,138
Panel B: Female
Jobseeker’s payment	0.069***
	(0.014)
Quarantine payment		0.059***
		(0.015)
Stimulus payment			0.065***
			(0.013)
Rent relief payment				0.060***
				(0.013)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.062***
					(0.013)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	8,138	8,138	8,138	8,138	8,138
Panel C: Age above 40 years
Jobseeker’s payment	0.194**
	(0.068)
Quarantine payment		0.109**
		(0.059)
Stimulus payment			0.159**
			(0.069)
Rent relief payment				0.155**
				(0.045)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.111**
					(0.061)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	9,610	9,610	9,610	9,310	9,610
Panel D: Age below 40 years
Jobseeker’s payment	0.094**
	(0.033)
Quarantine payment		0.059**
		(0.022)
Stimulus payment			0.096**
			(0.032)
Rent relief payment				0.066**
				(0.021)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.081***
					(0.013)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	8,858	8,858	8,858	8,858	8,858
Panel E: Having below bachelor’s degree
Jobseeker’s payment	0.199***
	(0.028)
Quarantine payment		0.175***
		(0.014)
Stimulus payment			0.174***
			(0.011)
Rent relief payment				0.160**
				(0.062)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.159**
					(0.056)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	10,129	10,129	10,129	10,129	10,129
Panel F: Having a bachelor’s degree or higher
Jobseeker’s payment	0.099**
	(0.032)
Quarantine payment		0.076**
		(0.022)
Stimulus payment			0.092**
			(0.036)
Rent relief payment				0.079**
				(0.023)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.087**
					(0.026)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	8,319	8,319	8,319	8,319	8,319

Standard errors are in parentheses. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. All regression includes relevant control variables including state and year-fixed effects.

Table 4. COVID-19 support fund and subjective well-being (Welsch and Biermann cut-offs).

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Variables	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB	SWB
Jobseeker’s payment	0.082**
	(0.024)
Quarantine payment		0.059**
		(0.020)
Stimulus payment			0.079**
			(0.028)
Rent relief payment				0.069**
				(0.023)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.056**
					(0.016)
State fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Year fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448
R^2	0.109	0.107	0.091	0.099	0.116
F-statistics	58.77	39.01	45.11	78.11	46.11

Standard errors are in parentheses. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. All regression includes relevant control variables.

Table 5. COVID-19 support payments and subjective well-being-ordered probit.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Variables	SBW	SBW	SBW	SBW	SBW
Jobseeker’s payment	0.076**
	(0.024)
Quarantine payment		0.019**
		(0.005)
Stimulus payment			0.041**
			(0.011)
Rent relief payment				0.060**
				(0.020)
Other COVID-19 payment					0.058**
					(0.021)
Time fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Individual fixed effect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448	18,448
R^2	0.071	0.131	0.211	0.087	0.101
F-statistics	49.11	47.19	61.19	71.49	58.20

Standard errors are in parentheses. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. All regression includes relevant control variables.

Table A1. Description and summary statistics for all the variables.

Variable		Mean	Std. Dev.
Outcome variables
Life Satisfaction	All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life? On a scale of 0–10, where 0 is labelled as totally dissatisfied and 10 is totally satisfied	7.834	1.464
Covid-19 support payments
Jobseeker’s payment	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent received COVID-19 jobseeker’s support payment.	0.475	0.330
Quarantine payment	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent received COVID-19 quarantine support payment.	0.210	0.046
Stimulus payment	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent received COVID-19 stimulus support payment.	0.274	0.081
Rent relief payment	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent received COVID-19 rent relief support payment.	0.330	0.124
Other covid payment	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent received other COVID-19 support payment.	0.250	0.067
Control variables
Age	Age of respondent in years	51.731	14.40
Female	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent is a female	0.490	0.479
Employed	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent is employed	0.677	0.467
Total children	Number of children ever had	1.788	1.578
Separated	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent is separated	0.281	0.086
Widowed	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent is widowed	0.171	0.030
Household size	Continuous variable for the log if household size	2.251	0.980
Certificate	Dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent’s highest level of education achieved is the certificate I, II, II and IV.	0.376	0.170
Diploma	Dummy variable set equals to 1 if the respondent’s highest level of education achieved is a diploma or advanced diploma.	0.351	0.144
Bachelor	Dummy variable set equals to 1 if the respondent’s highest level of education achieved is bachelor’s or honours.	0.440	0.263
Postgraduate	Dummy variable set equals to 1 if the respondent’s highest level of education achieved is a master’s or doctorate.	0.347	0.140

Lewbel, A. 2012. “Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models.” Journal of Business & Economic Statistics 30 (1): 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/07350015.2012.643126.

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Data availability statement

Authors do not have permission to share the data.