Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/227219 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13692
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We argue that the relationship between individual satisfaction with life (SWL) and SWL inequality is more complex than described by leading earlier research such as Goff, Helliwell, and Mayraz (Economic Inquiry, 2018). Using inequality indices appropriate for ordinal data, our analysis using the World Values Survey reveals that skewness of the SWL distribution, not only inequality, matters for individual SWL outcomes; so too does whether we look upwards or downwards at the (skewed) distribution. Our results are consistent with there being negative (positive) externalities for an individual's SWL from seeing people who are low (high) in the SWL distribution.
Subjects: 
subjective wellbeing
ordinal data
inequality
skewness
WVS
JEL: 
D31
D63
I31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
281.26 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.