 Kuznets curve in happiness: A cross-country explorationRati Ram Economic Modelling, 2017, vol. 66, issue C, 272-278 Abstract: In the context of the recent emergence of enormous research and policy interest in the many dimensions of happiness, this paper explores for the first time a Kuznets-type relation between average happiness and happiness-inequality in a large cross-country setting. Three different data sets and several types of specifications are used. The study suggests three main points. First, in all cases there is a clear indication of an inverted-U relation in which happiness-inequality first increases with mean happiness, reaches a peak, and then declines. Moreover, the estimated turning-point occurs at a fairly "late" stage, and 35% to 40% of the countries lie in the increasing-inequality segment. Second, a possible policy implication is that there may be need to address accentuation of happiness-inequality at early stages of increase in average happiness. Third, the estimates indicate that the predominant sentiment in the literature toward a negative relation between mean happiness and happiness-inequality is probably based on oversimplified linear models. Keywords: Happiness; Happiness-inequality; Happiness Kuznets-curve (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:66:y:2017:i:c:p:272-278 DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2017.06.006 Access Statistics for this article Economic Modelling is currently edited by S. Hall and P. Pauly More articles in Economic Modelling from Elsevier |
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