Effects of Objective and Subjective Income Comparisons on Subjective Wellbeing

Brennan Hodkinson () and Martine Visser
Additional contact information
Brennan Hodkinson: Environmental–Economics Policy Research Unit (EPRU)

No 118, SALDRU Working Papers from Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town

Abstract: We present results from the Cape Area Panel Study dataset investigating how social comparisons with regard to income affect subjective wellbeing of both young adults and parents. Objective and subjective measures of relative income are used, assessing how individuals compare themselves to others and to themselves over time. Strong evidence is found to suggest that social comparisons affect subjective wellbeing, both relative to neighbours and relative to oneself in the past. Objective measures of wellbeing also influence happiness, but this is more prevalent in interpersonal than inter-temporal comparisons. It is possible that some adaptation does occur within individuals over time.

Keywords: Subjective Wellbeing; Happiness; Relative Income; Social Comparisons; Habituation; Cape Area Panel Study; CAPS; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D31 D60 H00 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.opensaldru.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/ ... druwp.pdf?sequence=1 Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Effects of Objective and Subjective Income Comparisons on Subjective Wellbeing (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ldr:wpaper:118

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SALDRU Working Papers from Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Alison Siljeur ().