Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/27192 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
Diskussionsbeitrag No. 382
Publisher: 
Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Hannover
Abstract: 
Does it make us unhappier when we compare our current consumption with that of the Joneses or our own past achievements? This paper tries an answer without recurring on interpersonal utility comparisons. It calibrates an economy under three different assumptions, non-comparing utility, and inward-looking and outward-looking habit formation. Using consumption equivalents it then calculates how much individual welfare is affected in each economy by unexpected losses and gains of wealth.
Subjects: 
habit formation
happiness
welfare
economic growth
JEL: 
D60
D91
E21
O40
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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