The importance of wealth for subjective well-being

Bruce Headey () and Mark Wooden
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Bruce Headey: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Postal: Alan Gilbert Bldg, University of Melbourne, VIC AUSTRALIA 3010, http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/people/bheadey/home.html

Journal of Financial Transformation, 2005, vol. 15, 59-67

Abstract: It is widely assumed that since income is usually found to account for a relatively small proportion of the variance across individuals in self-reported well-being, money does not matter for personal happiness. This hypothesis is re-examined in this paper by including measures of household wealth alongside the more usual household income measure in regression equations of life satisfaction. Using data drawn from four large population surveys from four different countries,evidence is found indicating that wealth generally matters at least as much as income. It is thus concluded that economic circumstances explain more of the variation in individual well-being than previously thought. Nevertheless, the size of these wealth and income effects is still small.

Keywords: Well-being; Household wealth; HILDA Survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D19 D31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:jofitr:0954

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