The positive and negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on subjective well-being and changes in social inequality: Evidence from prefectures in Japan

Naoki Sudo

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101029

The positive and negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on subjective well-being and changes in social inequality: Evidence from prefectures in Japan

SSM Popul Health. 2022 Mar:17:101029. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101029. Epub 2022 Jan 21.

Author

Naoki Sudo¹

Affiliation

¹ Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, 186-8601, Japan.

Abstract

This study aims to specify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual subjective well-being in Japan and to clarify the mechanism generating social inequality of subjective well-being during the crisis. Data were analyzed using fixed effects ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models from the Online Panel Survey of Social Stratification and Psychology in 2020 (SSPW2020-Panel), which was conducted in four waves in June 2020, September 2020, December 2020, and March 2021. The results reveal that COVID-19 spread in a prefecture had differential effects on subjective well-being in prefectures with high infection rates: positive effects for socially advantaged individuals and negative effects for socially disadvantaged individuals. In conclusion, social inequality in Japan, in terms of subjective well-being, has been widened by the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Differences in infection rate between prefectures; Fixed effects OLS regression model; Social inequality; Subjective well-being.