Subjective Well-being, Disability and Adaptation

Abstract

Using data from rural Ethiopia, this paper examines the subjective well-being of households with disabled people and whether or not there is adaptation. Empirical results indicate that, as expected, disability has a significant negative impact on welfare. This is true whether the person who answered the subjective well-being question herself is disabled, or whether the disabled person is another member of the household. Even though we find some weak indication of adaptation with respect to specific forms of disabilities, the overall weight of empirical results suggests little adaptation: disability is associated with a lower subjective well-being irrespective of the time elapsed since the onset of the disability. We also find that, in the studied population, disability is associated with significantly lower material welfare. This lower material welfare is the main channel through which disability reduces subjective well-being.