Non-parametric well-being comparisons

Koen Decancq and Annemie Nys

European Economic Review, 2021, vol. 133, issue C

Abstract: We study the problem of making interpersonal well-being comparisons when individuals have heterogeneous preferences. We present a robust, but incomplete, criterion for interpersonal well-being comparisons that states that one individual is better off than another if the intersection between the extended upper contour set of the better-off individual and the extended lower contour set of the worse-off individual is empty. We implement the criterion in the consumption-health space using an online survey of 2260 respondents in the United States to investigate how complete the resulting interpersonal well-being comparison is. To chart the contour sets of the respondents, we propose a new “adaptive bisectional dichotomous choice” (ABDC) procedure that is based on a limited number of dichotomous choices and some mild non-parametric assumptions about the preferences. We find that one fifth of all pairs of respondents can be ranked with the criterion.

Keywords: Interpersonal well-being comparisons; Non-parametric; Preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Non-parametric well-being comparisons (2019)
Working Paper: Non-parametric well-being comparisons (2018)
Working Paper: Non-parametric well-being comparisons (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:133:y:2021:i:c:s0014292121000192

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103666

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