The asymmetric experience of positive and negative economic growth: global evidence using subjective well-being data

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, George W. Ward, Femke de Keulenaer, Bert Van Landeghem, Georgios Kavetsos and Michael I. Norton

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Are individuals more sensitive to losses than gains in macroeconomic growth? Using subjective well-being measures across three large data sets, we observe an asymmetry in the way positive and negative economic growth are experienced, with losses having more than twice as much impact on individual happiness as compared to equivalent gains. We use Gallup World Poll data drawn from 151 countries, BRFSS data taken from a representative sample of 2.5 million US respondents, and Eurobarometer data that cover multiple business cycles over four decades. This research provides a new perspective on the welfare cost of business cycles with implications for growth policy and our understanding of the long-run relationship between GDP and subjective well-being.

Keywords: economic growth; business cycles; subjective well-being; loss aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D00 D69 I39 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2014-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60054/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-Being Data (2018)
Working Paper: The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-Being Data (2015)
Working Paper: The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-Being Data (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:60054

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