The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being

Bruce Headey () and Mark Wooden
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Bruce Headey: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research

No 1032, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The accepted view among psychologists and economists alike is that household income has statistically significant but only small effects on measures of subjective well-being. Income, however, is clearly an imperfect measure of the economic circumstances of households. Using data drawn from the 2001 and 2002 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, this paper demonstrates that wealth, which can be viewed as providing a degree of economic security, is at least as important to well-being and ill-being as income.

Keywords: subjective well-being; life satisfaction; income; wealth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2004-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (121)

Published - Published in: Economic Record, 2004, 80 (S1), S24-S33. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4932.2004.00181.x

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well‐Being and Ill‐Being (2004)
Working Paper: The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being (2004)
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