What can happiness research tell us about altruism? Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Johannes Schwarze and Rainer Winkelmann
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Johannes Schwarze: University of Bamberg

No 503, SOI - Working Papers from Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich

Abstract: Much progress has been made in recent years on developing and applying a direct measure of utility using survey questions on subjective well-being. In this paper we explore whether this new type of measurement can be fruitfully applied to the study of interdependent utility in general, and altruism between parents and adult children who moved away from home in particular. We introduce an appropriate econometric methodology and, using data from the German SocioEconomic Panel for the years 2000-2004, find that the parents� self-reported happiness depends positively on the happiness of their adult children. A one standard deviation move in the child�s happiness has the same effect as a 45 percent move in household income.

Keywords: utility interdependence; sympathy; extended family; fixed effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 D6 D64 J10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2005-02, Revised 2005-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-soc and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/52200/1/wp0503.pdf Revised version, 2005 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: What Can Happiness Research Tell Us about Altruism?: Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel (2005)
Working Paper: What Can Happiness Research Tell Us About Altruism? Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:soz:wpaper:0503

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