Between 1991 and 2015, the real disposable, needs-adjusted income of persons in private households in Germany rose by … 15 percent on average. The majority of the population has benefited from the growth in real income, but the groups at the … lower end of the income distribution have not. Inequality in both market and disposable needs-adjusted household income has …

Theory suggests that subjective well-being is affected by income comparisons and adaptation to income. Empirical tests … variations in the underlying income type substantially affect tests of the relationship between life satisfaction, income rank …, reference income, and income adaptation. Models simultaneously controlling for income and income rank as well as models with a …

Theory suggests that subjective well-being is affected by income comparisons and adaptation to income. Empirical tests … variations in the underlying income type substantially affect tests of the relationship between life satisfaction, income rank …, reference income, and income adaptation. Models simultaneously controlling for income and income rank as well as models with a …

We estimate household equivalence scales using income satisfaction data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. We extend … previous studies applying this approach by taking reference income into account. This allows separating needs-based from … reference effects in the determination of income satisfaction. We show that this adjustment helps to overcome a bias causing an …