In normative public economics it is crucial to know how fast the marginal utility of income declines as income … inequality. We estimate this parameter using four large cross-sectional surveys of subjective happiness and two panel surveys …, using a number of assumptions, we are able to estimate the elasticity of marginal utility with respect to income. We obtain …

based on individuals’ ratings of their happiness or life satisfaction rather than on their preferences. In the context of a …

experience. Subjective assessments of financial well-being at time t, for individuals with a given income level, are compared … according to the income trajectory of the individual over the previous one to nine years. Descriptive statistics are followed by … scaling of satisfaction. The results show that year on year, individuals who have experienced a fall in income since the …

Higher income is associated with greater well-being, but do income gains and losses impact on well-being differently … falls in income have a larger impact on well-being than equivalent income gains. The effect is not explained by the … diminishing returns to well-being of income. Our findings show that loss aversion applies to experienced losses, counteracting …

splits national populations according to gender, income and political orientation also. …

organisations have recently begun to measure progress at least partly in terms of the population’s SWB or “happiness”. This paper …