Ambition and Jealousy: Income Interactions in the "Old" Europe versus the "New" Europe and the United States

Claudia Senik ()

No 2083, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper asks how income distribution affects individual well-being and tries to explore the idea that this relation depends on the degree of mobility and uncertainty in the economy. It mostly concentrates on the relation between satisfaction and reference income (defined as the income of one’s professional peers), and hinges on the micro-econometric analysis of household survey data (mostly panel), including subjective attitudinal questions. Using over one million observations, it uncovers a divide between "old" -low mobility- European countries versus "new" European post-Transition countries and the United States. Whereas "jealousy" is dominant in the former, "ambition" is even stronger in the latter.

Keywords: European Union; subjective well-being; comparison income; income distribution; Transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 D63 O57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2006-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Economica, 2008, 75 (299), 495-513

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https://docs.iza.org/dp2083.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Ambition and Jealousy: Income Interactions in the ‘Old’ Europe versus the ‘New’ Europe and the United States (2008)
Working Paper: Ambition and jealousy: Income interactions in the 'Old Europe versus the 'New' Europe and the United States (2008)
Working Paper: Ambition and jealousy. Income interactions in the "Old" Europe versus the "New" Europe and the United States (2007)
Working Paper: Ambition and jealousy. Income Interactions in the "old" Europe versus The "New" Europe and the United States (2005)
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