Where the Streets Have a Name : Income Comparisons in the US

This paper analyzes the effects of income comparisons on utility using data on self-reported well-being. We rely on a very large survey (BRFSS) and an unprecedented survey conducted by the City of Somerville in order to study this relationship. These data sets allow us to study income comparisons at the county, ZIP code and street-levels. While there is a negative association between respondents' well-being and median income at the county and street-levels, this is the opposite at the ZIP code-level. We disentangle the effects of pure social comparisons and local public goods by including the relative rank in the income distribution in our model. Conditional on relative rank, there is a positive relationship between well-being and median county income. Last, we fi nd evidence of asymmetry and nonlinearities in the comparison process