@techreport{Caporale2007Income,
abstract = {Using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), we examine the link between income and subjective well-being. We find that, for the whole sample of nineteen European countries, although income is positively correlated with both happiness and life satisfaction, reference income exerts a negative effect on individual well-being, a result consistent with the relative utility hypothesis. Performing separate analyses for some Eastern European countries, we also find some evidence of a tunnel effect, in that reference income has a positive impact on subjective well-being. Our findings support the view that in environments with stable income and employment, reference income serves as a basis for social comparisons, whereas in relatively volatile environments, it is used as a source of information for forming expectations about future status.},
address = {M\"{u}nchen},
author = {Guglielmo Maria Caporale and Yannis Georgellis and Nicholas Tsitsianis and Ya Ping},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {I31; 330; comparison income; reference groups; happiness; life satisfaction; Einkommensverteilung; Lebensqualit\"{a}t; Lebenszufriedenheit; Statistisches Auswahlverfahren; Sch\"{a}tzung; Europa},
language = {eng},
number = {2146},
publisher = {CESifo},
title = {Income and happiness across Europe: do reference values matter?},
type = {CESifo working paper},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/26190},
year = {2007}
}
