Impact of episodes of regime transformation on subjective well-being: A panel event study

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of a transition from democracy to autocracy (an autocratization event) and from autocracy to democracy (a democratization event) on three indicators of subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Data on episodes of regime transformation was taken from the Varieties of Democracy, while data on subjective well-being was extracted from the Gallup World Poll. The combined dataset comprised data on 166 countries from 2005 to 2021. Over this period, 22 autocratization events and 18 democratization events occurred. The study used a panel event study framework and controlled for GDP per capita. The results show no clear and consistent evidence of an impact of regime transformation in either direction (democratization or autocratization) on the three indicators of subjective well-being. The findings also indicate the absence of any causal effect between the episodes of regime change and subjective well-being.