A subjective measure of inequality in quality of life. Longitudinal relationships with income and happiness inequality in post-Communist Romania

Inequality in happiness is a rather new social indicator. It is generally negatively correlated with the average level of happiness in a country. However, in post-communist societies, this relationship seems not to be true at longitudinal level. In Romania, for instance, it was shown that even when happiness levels rose after the decline in the nineties, the happiness inequality was still increasing. This is linked with the changing socio-economic climate in post-communist countries, which also make the transition from a rather homogenous to a very heterogeneous society. Indeed, it was supposed that increase in income inequality levels may be only a particular aspect of the heterogeneization of these societies. Is the concept of inequality in quality of life useful to study this general trend? To prove this, I used data on income inequality in Romania after 1990, in conjunction with subjective data obtained by the national survey program Diagnosis of Quality of Life (1990-2010). Specifically, I analysed trends in life satisfaction levels, and also in life satisfaction inequality. For inequality in subjective quality of life, I developed an index based on 15 subjective items such as satisfaction with housing, family, earnings, health, and educational services. Results seem to show that inequality in quality of life is a better measure of social heterogeneity than income or happiness inequality.