Hedonic Capital

Liam Graham and Andrew Oswald

No 269638, Economic Research Papers from University of Warwick - Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper proposes a new way to think about happiness. It distinguishes between stocks and flows. Central to the analysis is a concept we call ‘hedonic capital’. The paper sets out a model of the dynamics of wellbeing in which bad life-shocks are smoothed by the drawing down of hedonic capital. The model fits the patterns found in the empirical literature: the existence of a stable level of wellbeing and a tendency to return gradually towards that level. It offers a theory of hedonic adaptation.

Keywords: Health Economics and Policy; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36
Date: 2006-04-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/269638/files/twerp_745.pdf (application/pdf)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/269638/files/twerp_745.pdf?subformat=pdfa (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Hedonic Capital (2006)
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:ags:uwarer:269638

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.269638

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Economic Research Papers from University of Warwick - Department of Economics
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().