What Do Happiness Data Mean? Theory and Survey Evidence / Daniel J. Benjamin, Jakina Debnam Guzman, Marc Fleurbaey, Ori Heffetz, Miles S. Kimball.

By:

Benjamin, Daniel J

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w28438.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2021.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

Online resources:

Available additional physical forms:

Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers

Abstract: What utility notion--e.g., flow/lifetime, self/family-centered--do self-reported well-being (SWB) questions measure? First, we clarify the theoretical assumptions underlying existing applications regarding the (i) life domains, (ii) time horizons, and (iii) other-regarding preferences captured by SWB data. Second, we document inconsistency in assumptions across papers, sometimes using the same SWB dataset. Third, we ask survey respondents what they had in mind regarding (i)-(iii) when answering commonly used--life satisfaction, happiness, ladder--and new SWB questions. We find that respondents' self-reports differ from researchers' assumptions, and differ across SWB questions and sociodemographic groups. We outline actionable suggestions for SWB researchers.

Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w28438 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

Total holds: 0

Collection: Colección NBER Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)

Previous	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	Next
Previous	nber w28435 The Unholy Trinity: Regulatory Forbearance, Stressed Banks and Zombie Firms /	nber w28436 Using Monotonicity Restrictions to Identify Models with Partially Latent Covariates /	nber w28437 How the New Fed Municipal Bond Facility Capped Muni-Treasury Yield Spreads in the Covid-19 Recession /	nber w28438 What Do Happiness Data Mean? Theory and Survey Evidence /	nber w28439 The Health Costs of Cost-Sharing /	nber w2844 Adequacy of International Transactions and Position Data for Policy Coordination /	nber w28440 Uneven Growth: Automation's Impact on Income and Wealth Inequality /	Next

February 2021.

What utility notion--e.g., flow/lifetime, self/family-centered--do self-reported well-being (SWB) questions measure? First, we clarify the theoretical assumptions underlying existing applications regarding the (i) life domains, (ii) time horizons, and (iii) other-regarding preferences captured by SWB data. Second, we document inconsistency in assumptions across papers, sometimes using the same SWB dataset. Third, we ask survey respondents what they had in mind regarding (i)-(iii) when answering commonly used--life satisfaction, happiness, ladder--and new SWB questions. We find that respondents' self-reports differ from researchers' assumptions, and differ across SWB questions and sociodemographic groups. We outline actionable suggestions for SWB researchers.