The Rolling 50s (and More): Cars and Life Satisfaction Among Seniors Across Europe
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The Rolling 50s (and More): Cars and Life Satisfaction Among Seniors Across Europe Gaël Brulé 1 & Laura Ravazzini 1 & Christian Suter 1 Received: 2 November 2020 / Accepted: 3 November 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Cars represent a valuable real asset that most individuals use on a daily basis. Although cars are a form of material prosperity like income and other forms of wealth, the link between cars and subjective well-being (SWB) is barely covered in the existing literature. Furthermore, few existing contributions are scattered across specific cultural contexts. Here, we analyze the relationship between cars and the SWB of seniors in different European countries using the SHARE dataset. We construct multilevel and fixed-effect models to explore the extent of economic, infrastructural, and cultural factors and how they can explain this relationship. The results show that the value of the car is, among all wealth components (houses, bank account, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, debts and mortgages), the form of wealth most related to life satisfaction. In addition, cars matter less (a) in affluent societies, (b) where rail infrastructure is more developed, and (c) where people hold fewer materialistic values. We discuss these results in the framework of the functional and positional value of cars, i.e., respectively, the value derived from it regardless of others and the value derived from it vis-à-vis others. Keywords Wealth . Car . SWB . Elderly . Sustainable development . Materialistic values
The authors whose names are listed immediately above certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
* Gaël Brulé [email protected]
1
University of Neuchâtel, 27 faubourg de l’hôpital, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
G. Brulé et al.
Introduction Material prosperity has been evaluated through income although wealth represents a better proxy (Skopek 2014). This is particularly true for seniors who have generally little income and who have accumulated wealth over several decades. Wealth depicts individuals’ long-term consumption potentials and capacities to maintain a good standard of living (Spilerman 2000; Hochman and Skopek 2013; Brulé and Suter 2019). On top of providing income (e.g., through investment), wealth also provides utility (e.g., by increasing personal freedom), security (e.g., in case of unemployment), socialization (e.g., when raising kids), power (e.g., political), inheritance, and status. Their relative importance depends on the type of asset: While financial assets can provide stability for the current and the future generations, real assets are v
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