The aim of this thesis is to address certain aspects of climate change which have not attracted sufficient attention. The first part is an empirical one investigating impacts of climate change on households and individuals using the hedonic price approach (for Great Britain and Germany). In...

We analyse the influence of climate on average life satisfaction in 87 countries using data from the World Values Survey. Climate is described in terms of 'degree-months' calculated using an optimally-selected base temperature of 65°F (18.3°C). Our results suggest that countries with climates...

Accounting for socioeconomic and demographic variables as well as country specific effects, households' willingness to pay for changes in climate is revealed using European data on reported life satisfaction. Individuals located in areas with lower average levels of sunshine and higher average...

Following a major earthquake off the Pacific coast of Japan, a tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three reactors in Fukushima, causing a major nuclear accident on 11 March 2011. Based on a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach we use panel data for 5,979 individuals...

Hedonic theory assumes that changes in land prices and wage rates eliminate the utility advantages of differing locations. Using happiness data from the German socio-economic panel this paper empirically tests whether regional utility differences exist and if so whether utility levels show any...

This paper is the first to link economic theory with empirical life-satisfaction analyses referring to internal migration. We derive an extension of the Roback (1982) model to account for benefits from regional amenities in the utility function, while controlling for income, housing costs, and...

We study how urban land use fragmentation affects the subjective wellbeing of city residents. Therefore, we calculate fragmentation metrics based on the European Urban Atlas for 15,000 households in the German Socio-Economic Panel. Using random and fixed effects specifications, we find that...