Putting the economy first: or does postmodernization really matter?

Zn recent years, there has been a strong tendency for the politicians of We stern nations to make issues of economic policy making their first priority . Emerging evidence from the economics discipline, which shows a close asso ciation between subjective well-being and other macroeconomic variables suc h as unemployment and inflation, suggests that this priority ordering of po liticians may well be one which is functional from an electoral viewpoint. However, recent research by Ronald Inglehart on the development of 'postmat erialist' values challenges the continuing electoral relevance of an econom ics-first approach to policy making by suggesting that in advanced societie s, mass publics are exercised more by quality of life concerns than by issu es of economic affluence. Here we use Eurobarometer data for 12 EU nations to explore the nature of the linkage between economic policy outcomes and l evels of popular satisfaction in both economically advanced and less advanc ed societies. Our findings suggest that affluence is not. the only economic determinant of subjective well-being in these countries and that, contrary to Inglehart's thesis, the growth of the economy impacts on subjective wel l-being in rich and poor nations alike.