Subjective Well-Being and Relative Deprivation: An Empirical Link

Conchita D'Ambrosio and Joachim Frick

No 1351, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between two well-established concepts of measuring individual well- being: the concept of happiness, i.e. self-reported level of satisfaction with income and life, and relative deprivation/satisfaction, i.e. the gaps between the individual's income and the incomes of all individuals richer/poorer than him. Operationalizing both concepts using micro panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we provide empirical evidence for subjective well-being depending more on relative satisfaction than on absolute levels of income. This finding holds even after controlling for other influential factors in a multivariate setting.

Keywords: relative deprivation; satisfaction; subjective well-being; SOEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D63 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2004-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published - published in: Social Indicators Research, 2007, 81(3), 497-519

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Working Paper: Subjective Well-Being and Relative Deprivation: An Empirical Link (2004)
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