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Europe, Measured

ESS-07 / The good life

Income or another evening together?

What is worth more for life satisfaction: one income decile or one additional level of social contact?

PlannedWave 1Research question, not a published result

The question

Compare two partial associations on the same scale, without turning friendship into a causal price tag.

What the analysis will test

Primary quantity
Standardized conditional associations of income position and social contact with life satisfaction.
Evidence
ESS rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Modules: core.
Primary comparison
Comparable partial-association intervals. The final form depends on validated data and uncertainty.
Publication threshold
Pinned source editions, reviewed questionnaire comparability, survey-design-aware intervals, disclosure checks and reproducible aggregate outputs.

What this evidence does not prove

The comparison does not identify the happiness return to giving someone money or changing their relationships.

The ESS interviews different probability samples in each round. It measures structural differences and change, not today's mood or the same individuals over time.

Sources and next release

This page reserves the permanent address for ESS-07. Estimates and downloads will appear here after the data, statistical, editorial and reproducibility checks pass.

Series methodology and source register / ESS11 edition 4.2