Real Assets and Subjective Well-Being: Using a Novel Measure for Relative Effects

Zuzana Brokešová, Andrej Cupak, Anthony Lepinteur and Marian Rizov

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2025, vol. 180, issue 3, 1567-1591

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between household real assets and life satisfaction in Slovakia, using microdata from the 2017 wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). We find a robust positive association between the value of real assets and life satisfaction. To assess whether this relationship is driven by relative, rather than purely absolute, effects, we make use of a unique feature of the Slovak HFCS: interviewer paradata. Specifically, we use interviewers' assessments of the respondent's dwelling quality relative to that of nearby homes. These paradata provide a new locally grounded reference point for evaluating positional effects - arguably with greater validity than conventional approaches based on arbitrarily defined comparison groups. We show that real assets function as positional goods, with downward comparisons exerting a stronger influence on well-being than upward ones. We estimate that approximately 7% of the total relationship between real assets and life satisfaction can be attributed to relative concerns.

Keywords: Subjective well-being; Life satisfaction; Relative effects; Real assets; Housing wealth; Neighbourhoods; Survey data; Paradata (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Journal Article: Real Assets and Subjective Well-Being: Using a Novel Measure for Relative Effects (2025)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:344150

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-025-03717-4

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