On the Common Claim that Happiness Equations Demonstrate Diminishing Marginal Utility of Income

Andrew Oswald

No 1781, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: It is commonly claimed in the recent happiness literature in psychology and economics that we have proved diminishing marginal utility of income. This paper suggests that we have not. It draws a distinction between concavity of the utility function and concavity of the reporting function.

Keywords: happiness; money; marginal utility; curvature; concave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 7 pages
Date: 2005-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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