Across Emerging Europe, the transition years of the 1990s were characterized by major economic transformation, but also significant disruption and uneven gains. The path of transition in the Western Balkans has, however, been particularly uneven, and dissatisfaction with living standards is especially stark and persistent there. We aim to contribute to the empirical literature on subjective perceptions of economic well-being by providing insights on which personal characteristics and circumstances are associated with perceptions of relative economic standing and income needs. We find that factors other than spending play a larger role in the Western Balkans than in Central and South-Eastern Europe: in particular, greater (perceived) income uncertainty and more pessimistic expectations about the future weighed on perceived relative economic standing and could account for some of the observed persistent dissatisfaction.

中文翻译：

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对西巴尔干地区经济福祉的看法

在整个新兴欧洲，1990 年代过渡时期的特点是重大的经济转型，但也有重大的破坏和不均衡的收益。然而，西巴尔干地区的转型之路尤其不平坦，对生活水平的不满在当地尤为明显和持续。我们的目标是通过提供关于哪些个人特征和环境与对相对经济地位和收入需求的看法相关的见解，为关于经济福祉的主观看法的实证文献做出贡献。我们发现，支出以外的因素在西巴尔干地区比在中欧和东南欧发挥更大的作用：特别是，