TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Rupieper, Li Kathrin Kaja
AU  - Thomsen, Stephan L.
        TI  - Non-Formal Education and Life Satisfaction
        PY  - 2026/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18474
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18474
        AB  - Lifelong learning is increasingly recognized as important for individual well-being, but causal evidence on this relationship remains scarce. This paper evaluates the effects of non-formal adult education on life satisfaction by exploiting the substantial expansion of courses at East German Volkshochschulen (VHS) following reunification. Combining individual well-being data from SOEP with administrative VHS data, we use quasi-random variation in individuals’ exposure to courses to identify intention-to-treat effects. Estimation results denote small but significant and robust effects of VHS education on life satisfaction. Calculations of average treatment-on-the-treated effects suggest considerably stronger impacts among actual course participants. We furthermore reveal effect heterogeneity across demographic groups. In contrast to formal education, which is commonly found to raise aspirations, we find no corresponding effect of VHS education. Overall, our findings suggest that non-formal courses and training provide an easily accessible, low-cost means of adaptation in times of transformation.
        KW  - Volkshochschule
KW  - adult education
KW  - transformation
KW  - SOEP
KW  - Germany
KW  - subjective well-being
KW  - natural experiment
        ER  -