happiness and real GDP per capita are not significantly positively related. The principal reason that Paradox critics reach a … happiness. For some countries their estimated growth rates of happiness and GDP are not trend rates, but those observed in … cyclical expansion or contraction. Mixing these short-term with long-term growth rates shifts a happiness-GDP regression from a …

of others undercuts the tendency for happiness to grow with an increase in one's own income, and happiness remains fairly …, and the greater the shortfall, the less one's happiness. There is thus an asymmetry in the psychological roots of income … evaluations when income is rising vs. falling , and this causes a corresponding asymmetry in the response of happiness to the …

The Easterlin Paradox states that at a point in time happiness varies directly with income, both among and within … nations, but over time the long-term growth rates of happiness and income are not significantly related. The principal reason … vitiates the otherwise positive effect of own-income growth on happiness. Critics of the Paradox mistakenly present the …

U.S. income inequality has risen dramatically in recent decades. Researchers consistently find that greater income … SWB data from the U.S. Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index and income inequality data from the American Community Survey …-dependent and measure-dependent: income inequality is SWB-diminishing in large regions for all measures, SWB-diminishing in small …

We develop a theoretical framework that considers four distinct explanatory channels through which neighbors' income … could affect utility: public goods, cost of living, expectations of future income, and the direct effect (relative income … subjective well-being (SWB) data from the U.S. Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and geographically-based median-income data …

A large number of empirical studies have investigated the link between social status and happiness, yet in …

traditional economic measures, some nations have begun to collect information on citizens' happiness, life satisfaction, and other …

This note provides evidence for the relationship between income comparisons and subjective well-being (SWB), using … novel German data on self-reported comparison intensity and perceived relative income for seven reference groups. We find … for other reference groups, such as neighbours. Work-related income comparisons are mostly upwards and there is a strong …

Are people condemned to an inherent level of experienced happiness? A review of the economic research on subjective … well-being gives reason to the assessment that happiness can change. First, empirical findings clearly indicate that people … freedom of choice, low levels of democratization, unemployment, low income, etc. Second, considering people's adaptation to …