We became less satisfied with our lives because of the COVID-19 lockdown - and that lost satisfaction is worth $423 a week to the average Australian.
That's the conclusion of a group of academics at the Australian National University who have translated our feelings of "well-being" or "life satisfaction" into dollars and cents.
They measured levels of satisfaction before the epidemic and they measured the same thing after the virus struck, and they have put a figure on the decline.
"Our analysis, which examined the experiences of more than 3000 people, found that each person lost the equivalent of $17,000 due to declining well-being or life satisfaction," the co-author of the study, Professor Nicholas Biddle, said.
"Put another way, that drop in life satisfaction was worth $423 in lost income per week."
They make such a calculation - translating satisfaction with our lives into a dollar value - by asking lots of people to rate their level of satisfaction on a scale of one to 10 and seeing how it goes up or down over time for people with different incomes.
They found in the recent survey that the sense of satisfaction with people's lives dropped most when the epidemic struck for younger people.
Professor Biddle reckons that that's because their lives were more affected by the closing off of their social life. Bars closed, in particular, so many younger people felt the effects more.
Older people weren't as badly affected. When the epidemic started, they were made to feel that they needed to say goodbye to their grandchildren, Professor Biddle puts it. In the event, it wasn't as bad as they expected so the relief was great.
The good news is that our sense of well-being is back to what it was before the epidemic and the bushfires, according to the researchers.
Not only was our feeling of satisfaction hit by the epidemic but also our real income in real dollars and cents.
"It isn't just declining well-being that has hurt Australians. The pandemic has blown massive holes in household budgets," the study's other author, Professor Matthew Gray, said.
"Our analysis shows between March and November the average household lost a total of $4726 in income."
The study also looked at inequality.
"At the beginning of the pandemic, between February and April, income inequality declined slightly," Professor Biddle said. "This is due to the financial support provided by governments to households at the lower end of the income distribution.
"However, in the middle of the pandemic, inequality increased. And while the last few months have seen some convergence in income levels, Australia still appears to have higher inequality levels at the end of 2020 than at the start."
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
