Top Incomes and Human Well-being Around the World

Richard Burkhauser, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Nattavudh Powdthavee

No 9677, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The share of income held by the top 1 percent in many countries around the world has been rising persistently over the last 30 years. But we continue to know little about how the rising top income shares affect human well-being. This study combines the latest data to examine the relationship between top income share and different dimensions of subjective well-being. We find top income shares to be significantly correlated with lower life evaluation and higher levels of negative emotional well-being, but not positive emotional well-being. The results are robust to household income, individual's socio-economic status, and macroeconomic environment controls.

Keywords: top income; life evaluation; well-being; income inequality; World Top Income Database; Gallup World Poll (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2016-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hap, nep-hpe and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Psychology, 2017, 62, 246-257

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Related works:
Working Paper: Top incomes and human well-being around the world (2016)
Working Paper: Top incomes and human well-being around the world (2016)
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