Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/322434 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Document de travail No. 2025-01
Publisher: 
Université du Québec à Montréal, École des sciences de la gestion (ESG UQAM), Département des sciences économiques, Montréal
Abstract: 
The present study investigates the role of proximity in shaping social income static and dynamic comparisons and their impact on well-being, measured in terms of self-assessed health. Using the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (2002-2017), the study examines how individuals compare their income trajectories with those of their peers, considering varying degrees of proximity. The findings reveal that well-being is negatively impacted by static comparisons only in the case of a significant income gap with richer individuals. However, when dynamic comparisons are introduced, individuals experience an improvement in their subjective well-being when comparing to individuals who previously earned more but now earn less, as long as they drop at a certain distance. Consequently, no effect is observed when comparing with individuals in closer proximity, and effects emerge when the degree of proximity is low.
Subjects: 
static and dynamic relative hypotheses
income
proximity
well-being
JEL: 
C29
D31
I31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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