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

Geeta Kingdon and John Knight

Working Papers from University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit

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: South Africa: poverty; well-being; absolute income; household’s utility function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2005-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Working Paper Series by the Development Policy Research Unit, July 2005, pages 1-29

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7368 First version, 2005 (application/pdf)

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 (2004)
Working Paper: Community, Comparisons and Subjective Well-being in a Divided Society (2004)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctw:wpaper:05095

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