Adaptation and anticipation effects to life events in the United Kingdom

Abstract

We analyze how individual happiness is affected by nine major life events using a panel of British individuals. Our aim is to test the importance of hedonic adaptation in the United Kingdom and to compare our results with equivalent ones obtained in the literature using German data. We also study anticipation effects for each life event. We find evidence that adaptation, although a common phenomenon, is not always complete and in some cases may not even be present. Compared to German individuals, the British appear to adapt much less to marriage and much more to unemployment.