Does money bring happiness? To answer this question, I study the consequences of income fluctuations caused by commodity price changes on well-being patterns in regions specializing in export agriculture. Using nationally representative survey data in a difference-in-differences framework, I investigate the effects of the 2010/11 short-term increase in the global price of cotton. I demonstrate that it can be viewed as a positive income shock for the cotton-producing communities of Tajikistan. The main results indicate that the net subjective well-being effects of the cotton price increase are negative: exposure to the shock at the aggregate level is associated with a notable decrease in the reported levels of financial and life satisfaction. To explain this paradox, I consider split sample analyses, which suggest that the shock led to within-community occupational sorting and that its well-being effects are negative among households that were in the agriculture sector before the shock and barely positive for newly become farmers. Observing the increasing volume of remittances in the world and their significance to the economy of Tajikistan, I also study how remittances affect the relationship between income volatility and happiness. Further estimations reveal that family remittances are not significantly affected by and can partially mediate the negative effects of short-term income changes. The mediating effects of remittances only affect financial satisfaction, suggesting that a mere compensation of losses does not fully restore the quality of life.

金钱会带来快乐吗？为了回答这个问题，我研究了商品价格变化引起的收入波动对出口农业专业地区福祉模式的影响。在双重差分框架中使用具有全国代表性的调查数据，我调查了 2010/11 年全球棉花价格短期上涨的影响。我证明，它可以被视为对塔吉克斯坦棉花生产社区的积极收入冲击。主要结果表明，棉花价格上涨的净主观幸福感影响是负面的：总体层面的冲击暴露与报告的财务和生活满意度水平的显着下降有关。为了解释这个悖论，我考虑了拆分样本分析，该分析表明，冲击导致了社区内的职业分类，并且其对健康的影响在冲击前从事农业部门的家庭中是负面的，而对新成为农民的家庭几乎没有积极影响。通过观察世界上不断增长的汇款量及其对塔吉克斯坦经济的重要性，我还研究了汇款如何影响收入波动与幸福感之间的关系。进一步的估计表明，家庭汇款不会受到短期收入变化的负面影响，并且可以部分地介导短期收入变化的负面影响。汇款的中介效应只影响财务满意度，这表明仅仅补偿损失并不能完全恢复生活质量。