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 …

that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men …-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded … a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men …

of happiness. We re-assess this paradox analyzing multiple rich datasets spanning many decades. Using recent data on a … happiness. Together these findings indicate a clear role for absolute income and a more limited role for relative income … comparisons in determining happiness. …