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http://hdl.handle.net/10419/36221
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| Title: | | Objective confirmation of subjective measures of human well-being: evidence from the USA  |
| Authors: | | Oswald, Andrew J. Wu, Stephen |
| Issue Date: | | 2010 |
| Series/Report no.: | | IZA Discussion Papers 4695 |
| Abstract: | | A huge research literature, across the behavioral and social sciences, uses information on individuals' subjective well-being. These are responses to questions - asked by survey interviewers or medical personnel - such as how happy do you feel on a scale from 1 to 4? Yet there is little scientific evidence that such data are meaningful. This study examines a 2005-2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System random sample of 1.3 million United States citizens. Life-satisfaction in each U.S. state is measured. Across America, people's answers trace out the same pattern of quality of life as previously estimated, using solely non-subjective data, in a literature from economics (so-called 'compensating differentials' neoclassical theory due originally to Adam Smith). There is a state-by-state match (r = 0.6, p < 0.001) between subjective and objective well-being. This result has some potential to help to unify disciplines. |
| Subjects: | | Happiness well-being compensating differentials spatial equilibrium |
| JEL: | | I31 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | IZA Discussion Papers, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA)
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