Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/18301 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
DIW Discussion Papers No. 449
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
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, 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.
Subjects: 
Relative Deprivation
Satisfaction
SubjectiveWell-Being
SOEP
JEL: 
I31
D31
D63
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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