Inequality of Happiness: Evidence of the Compression of the Subjective-Wellbeing Distribution with Economic Growth

John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
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John Ifcher: Santa Clara University
Homa Zarghamee: Columbia University

Chapter 8 in Inequality and Growth: Patterns and Policy, 2016, pp 225-249 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The use of Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) measures in economics research has grown markedly (Kahneman and Krueger 2006). This has come about for at least two reasons. First, the measures have been systematically validated as reliable for examining a range of questions. Second, economists have long relied on income as a proxy for wellbeing. However, research shows that there are potentially large slippages between economic indicators and wellbeing (Diener and Seligman 2004). Thus, SWB measures have become an important alternative proxy for wellbeing. Indeed, SWB measures have also caught the attention of policy makers. The OECD launched the Better Life Index in 2011 as an alternative wellbeing measure; and the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy formed the Stiglitz Commission in 2008 to identify the limits of gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of wellbeing and to identify alternative measures (Stiglitz, Sen, and Fitoussi 2010).

Keywords: Life Satisfaction; Gross Domestic Product; Subjective Wellbeing; Income Inequality; Gini Coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:intecp:978-1-137-55454-3_8

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137554543_8

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