Happiness Inequality in the United States / Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers.

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Stevenson, Betsey

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TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w14220.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

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Abstract: This paper examines how the level and dispersion of self-reported happiness has evolved over the period 1972-2006. While there has been no increase in aggregate happiness, inequality in happiness has fallen substantially since the 1970s. There have been large changes in the level of happiness across groups: Two-thirds of the black-white happiness gap has been eroded, and the gender happiness gap has disappeared entirely. Paralleling changes in the income distribution, differences in happiness by education have widened substantially. We develop an integrated approach to measuring inequality and decomposing changes in the distribution of happiness, finding a pervasive decline in within-group inequality during the 1970s and 1980s that was experienced by even narrowly-defined demographic groups. Around one-third of this decline has subsequently been unwound. Juxtaposing these changes with large rises in income inequality suggests an important role for non-pecuniary factors in shaping the well-being distribution.

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Previous	nber w14218 Securities Laws, Disclosure, and National Capital Markets in the Age of Financial Globalization /	nber w14219 The Burden of the Nondiversifiable Risk of Entrepreneurship /	nber w1422 The Open Economy: Implications for Monetary and Fiscal Policy /	nber w14220 Happiness Inequality in the United States /	nber w14221 What's a Recession, Anyway? /	nber w14222 Liquidity Needs in Economies with Interconnected Financial Obligations /	nber w14223 Daily Monetary Policy Shocks and the Delayed Response of New Home Sales /	Next

August 2008.

This paper examines how the level and dispersion of self-reported happiness has evolved over the period 1972-2006. While there has been no increase in aggregate happiness, inequality in happiness has fallen substantially since the 1970s. There have been large changes in the level of happiness across groups: Two-thirds of the black-white happiness gap has been eroded, and the gender happiness gap has disappeared entirely. Paralleling changes in the income distribution, differences in happiness by education have widened substantially. We develop an integrated approach to measuring inequality and decomposing changes in the distribution of happiness, finding a pervasive decline in within-group inequality during the 1970s and 1980s that was experienced by even narrowly-defined demographic groups. Around one-third of this decline has subsequently been unwound. Juxtaposing these changes with large rises in income inequality suggests an important role for non-pecuniary factors in shaping the well-being distribution.