scholarly journals Relative Income, Happiness, and Utility: An Explanation for the Easterlin Paradox and Other Puzzles

2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew E Clark ◽  
Paul Frijters ◽  
Michael A Shields
Keyword(s):  
Utility Function ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Thomas Carlyle ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Easterlin Paradox ◽  
The Past ◽  
Average Happiness ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
And Migration

The well-known Easterlin paradox points out that average happiness has remained constant over time despite sharp rises in GNP per head. At the same time, a micro literature has typically found positive correlations between individual income and individual measures of subjective well-being. This paper suggests that these two findings are consistent with the presence of relative income terms in the utility function. Income may be evaluated relative to others (social comparison) or to oneself in the past (habituation). We review the evidence on relative income from the subjective well-being literature. We also discuss the relation (or not) between happiness and utility, and discuss some nonhappiness research (behavioral, experimental, neurological) related to income comparisons. We last consider how relative income in the utility function can affect economic models of behavior in the domains of consumption, investment, economic growth, savings, taxation, labor supply, wages, and migration. Every pitifulest whipster that walks within a skin has had his head filled with the notion that he is, shall be, or by all human and divine laws ought to be, “happy.” Thomas Carlyle

scholarly journals Psychocapital and Shangri-Las: How happiness became both a means and end to governmentality

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Mckay
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Past ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
Politics Of Happiness

In this paper a paradox is revealed in the politics of well-being over the means and ends of happiness. That paradox, in brief, is that although happiness is argued to be the ultimate end of all governmentality, in order to serve as that end, it first needs to be translated into a means for bolstering the economy, for only that way can a teleology of happiness gain a foothold in a world which prioritizes economic growth as an end in itself. To show this the paper gives a history of subjective well-being (SWB) research, and contrasts it with the politics of happiness in the UK, where SWB has in the past decade been translated into a discourse around the psychological wealth of the nation via the concepts of mental capital (MC) and mental well-being (MWB).

Remittances and subjective well-being: A static versus dynamic panel approach to happiness

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mduduzi Biyase ◽  
Bianca Fisher ◽  
Marinda Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
National Income ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Dynamic Panel ◽  
The Past ◽  
Static Versus Dynamic ◽  
Dynamic Panel Models

Using all five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) panel dataset, we examine the effect of domestic remittances on the static and dynamic subjective well-being (SWB) of recipient individuals in South Africa, by using a random effects ordered probit model that accounts for individual heterogeneity. Moreover, we check the robustness of our static model results by making use of an instrumental variable for migrants’ remittances. Two major empirical findings emerge from this paper: firstly, domestic remittances are consistently found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on the happiness of recipient individuals. Moreover, this finding persists in both the static and dynamic panel models. Secondly, the coefficient on lagged SWB (derived from the dynamic model) is found to be positive and statistically significant, confirming that SWB today is significantly influenced by SWB in the past.

scholarly journals Why Do Advantaged People Feel Unhappy? Effects of Materialistic Values on Subjective Well-Being

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311985391
Author(s):  
Naoki Sudo
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Finite Mixtures ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Easterlin Paradox ◽  
Materialistic Values ◽  
The Relationship

This article aims to explore the relationship between income and happiness. As shown by the Easterlin paradox, the relationship between income and happiness is not simple but indeed is rather complicated. The author used finite mixtures of regression models to analyze the data from the National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility conducted in Japan and implemented computer simulations based on the results of the finite mixtures of regression models to examine how changes in social values influence the relationship between income and happiness. Analytical results revealed that people can be categorized into two latent classes: one dominated by materialistic values and the other eschewing materialistic values. Moreover, they clarified that materialistic values have ambivalent influences on individual happiness and average happiness in society. It is concluded that the diffusion of materialistic values might cause paradoxical relationships between income and happiness.

scholarly journals Relative Income and Subjective Well-Being of Urban Residents in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichao Wang ◽  
Wei Yan ◽  
Jie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Relative Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Subjective Well Being

scholarly journals Advances and Open Questions in the Science of Subjective Well-Being

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Diener ◽  
Richard E. Lucas ◽  
Shigehiro Oishi
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Active Area ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Process Oriented

Subjective well-being (SWB) is an extremely active area of research with about 170,000 articles and books published on the topic in the past 15 years. Methodological and theoretical advances have been notable in this period of time, with the increasing use of longitudinal and experimental designs allowing for a greater understanding of the predictors and outcomes that relate to SWB, along with the process that underlie these associations. In addition, theories about these processes have become more intricate, as findings reveal that many associations with SWB depend on people’s culture and values and the context in which they live. This review provides an overview of many major areas of research, including the measurement of SWB, the demographic and personality-based predictors of SWB, and process-oriented accounts of individual differences in SWB. In addition, because a major new focus in recent years has been the development of national accounts of subjective well-being, we also review attempts to use SWB measures to guide policy decisions.

Standing in the glory or shadow of the past self: Cultures differ in how much the past self affects current subjective well-being.

Emotion ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Hoon Kim ◽  
Huajian Cai ◽  
Matthew Gilliland ◽  
Chi-Yue Chiu ◽  
Stephen Xia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Past
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