The poor, the rich and the happy: Exploring the link between income and subjective well-being

The widening income gap between the rich and the poor has important social implications. Governmental-level income redistribution through tax and welfare policies presents an opportunity to reduce income inequality and its negative consequences. The current longitudinal studies examined whether within-region changes in income redistribution over time relate to life satisfaction. Moreover, I examined potential moderators of this relationship to test the strong versus weak hypotheses of income redistribution. The strong hypothesis posits that income redistribution is beneficial to most. The weak hypothesis posits that income redistribution is beneficial to some and damaging to others. Using a nationally representative sample of 57,932 German respondents from 16 German states across 30 years (Study 1) and a sample of 112,876 respondents from 33 countries across 24 years (Study 2), I found that within-state and within-nation changes in income redistribution over time were associated with life satisfaction. The models predicted that a 10% reduction in Gini through income redistribution in Germany increased life satisfaction to the same extent as an 37% increase in annual income (Study 1), and a 5% reduction in Gini through income redistribution increased life satisfaction to the same extent as a 11% increase in GDP (Study 2). These associations were positive across individual, national, and cultural characteristics. Increases in income redistribution predicted greater satisfaction for tax-payers and welfare-receivers, for liberals and conservatives, and for the poor and the rich. These findings support the strong hypothesis of income redistribution and suggest that redistribution policies may play an important role in societal well-being.

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Structural Equation Modelling for Determining Subjective Well-Being Factors of the Poor Children in Bad Environment

Procedia Computer Science ◽

10.1016/j.procs.2018.08.156 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 135 ◽

pp. 113-119

Author(s):

Bagus Sumargo ◽

Theresa Novalia

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation Modelling ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

The Poor ◽

Equation Modelling ◽

Poor Children

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Who Believes in the American Dream?

Happiness for All? ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691169460.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Carol Graham

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Survey Data ◽

American Dream ◽

Well Being ◽

The United States ◽

The Poor ◽

Future Success ◽

The Rich ◽

The Relationship

This chapter goes on to ask who still believes in the American Dream. It begins with a review of what we know about the relationship between inequality, well-being, and attitudes about future mobility. It summarizes what we know from survey data on attitudes about inequality and opportunity in the United States, and then places those attitudes in the context of those in other countries and regions, based on new data and analysis with a focus on individuals' beliefs in the role of hard work in future success. Evidence suggests that the American Dream is very unevenly shared across socioeconomic cohorts. The poor and the rich in the United States lead very different lives, with the former having a much harder time looking beyond day-to-day struggles and associated high levels of stress, while the latter is able to pursue much better futures for themselves and their children, with the gaps between the two likely to increase even more in the future.

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Measuring Poverty: Context-Specific but not Relative

Journal of Public Policy ◽

10.1017/s0143814x10000103 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 241-262 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

KRISTIAN NIEMIETZ

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

National Level ◽

Well Being ◽

Poverty Line ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Median Income ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Absolute Poverty ◽

The Poor ◽

Context Specific

AbstractPoverty in developed countries is commonly defined in relative terms. It is argued that a relative definition formalises the insight that poverty is a context-specific phenomenon, and that the understanding of what constitutes poverty changes with overall economic development. Yet this article argues that tagging a poverty line to mean or median incomes does not automatically anchor it in its social context. Relative measures rely on the implicit assumptions that social norms are formed at the national level, and that median income earners set social standards. A comparison with studies on ‘Subjective Well-Being’ (SWB) shows that these assumptions are rather arbitrary. At the same time, relative indicators do not take account of changes in the product market structure that disproportionately affect the poor. If low-cost substitutes for expensive items become available, the poor will be relatively more affected than median income earners. Conventional ‘absolute poverty’ indicators will be equally dismissed for not solving these problems either. A combined ‘Consensual Material Deprivation’ and ‘Budget Standard Approach’ indicator will be proposed as a more robust alternative.

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The effect of gratitude training on the balance affect: The effort of increasing subjective well-being of the poor resident in Surakarta

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Asian Association of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology (ICAAIP 2017) ◽

10.2991/icaaip-17.2018.47 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Fadjri Kirana Anggraini ◽

Tri Rejeki Andayani

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

The Poor

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Welfare, Work, and Poverty

10.1093/oso/9780190218133.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Qin Gao

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Safety Net ◽

Systematic Evaluation ◽

Social Stability ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Welfare To Work ◽

Assistance Program ◽

The Poor ◽

The Future ◽

The Impact

This book provides the first systematic evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of China’s primary social assistance program, Minimum Livelihood Guarantee, or Dibao. Dibao serves the dual functions of providing a basic safety net for the poor and maintaining political and social stability. Despite currently being the world’s largest welfare program in terms of population coverage, evidence on Dibao’s performance has been lacking. This book offers important new empirical evidence and draws policy lessons that are timely and useful for both China and beyond. Specifically, the book addresses the following questions: How effective has Dibao been in targeting the poor and alleviating poverty? Have Dibao recipients been dependent on welfare or able to move from welfare to work? How has Dibao affected their consumption patterns and subjective well-being? Do they use the Dibao subsidy to meet survival needs (such as food, clothing, and shelter) or invest in human capital (such as health and education)? Are they distressed by the stigma associated with receiving Dibao, or do they become more optimistic about the future and enjoy greater life satisfaction because of Dibao support? And finally, what policy lessons can we learn from the existing evidence to strengthen and improve Dibao in the future? Answers to these questions not only help us gain an in-depth understanding of Dibao’s performance but also add the Chinese case to the growing international literature on comparative welfare studies.

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