Community, Comparisons and Subjective Well-being in a Divided Society

Geeta Kingdon and John Knight

No 2004-21, CSAE Working Paper Series from Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford

Abstract: Using a South African data set, the paper poses six questions about the determinants of subjective well-being. Much of the paper is concerned with the role of relative concepts. We find that comparator income - measured as average income of others in the local residential cluster - enters the household’s utility function positively but that income of more distant others (others in the district or province) enters negatively. The ordered probit equations indicate that, as well as comparator groups based on spatial proximity, race-based comparator groups are important in the racially divided South African society. It is also found that relative income is more important to happiness at higher levels of absolute income. Potential explanations of these results, and their implications, are considered.

Keywords: Subjective well-being; happiness; comparator groups; altruism; envy; relative deprivation; standard-setting; race; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 D60 D62 D63 D64 I30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Community, comparisons and subjective well-being in a divided society (2007)
Working Paper: Community, Comparisons and Subjective Well-being in a Divided Society (2005)
Working Paper: Community, Comparisons and Subjective Well-being in a Divided Society (2004)
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