Did the Easterlin Paradox apply in South Korea between 1980 and 2015? A case study

Michiel Slag (), Martijn Burger and Ruut Veenhoven
Additional contact information
Michiel Slag: Erasmus University Rotterdam

International Review of Economics, 2019, vol. 66, issue 4, No 1, 325-351

Abstract: Abstract In 1974, Richard Easterlin presented data showing that there is no relationship between economic growth and average happiness in the USA, but at the same time a higher personal income did go hand-in-hand with greater individual happiness in that nation. This phenomenon came to be known as the ‘Easterlin Paradox’. Easterlin explains this pattern using the relative income theory, which holds that the positive effect of income increase is offset by: (a) adaptation to income change and (b) social comparison. There is discussion as to whether this pattern is universal and, in this context, Easterlin et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(52):22463–22468, 2010) claim that the enormous economic growth in South Korea over the last decade has not led to an increase in average happiness. In this paper, we report an empirical verification of this claim, using other data on South Korea. Contrary to Easterlin’s claim, we found that South Koreans became happier over time and that the relative happiness theory did not apply in this case.

Keywords: Easterlin Paradox; Income; Happiness; Life satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 I13 O57 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12232-019-00325-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:inrvec:v:66:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s12232-019-00325-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cy/journal/12232/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s12232-019-00325-w

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Economics is currently edited by Luigino Bruni

More articles in International Review of Economics from Springer, Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().