Inequality OF subjective well-being as a comprehensive measure OF inequality
Open accessAbstract
The link between happiness and overall inequality is best studied using an index that incorporates different aspects of inequality, and is measured consistently in different countries. One such index is the degree to which happiness itself varies among individuals. Its correlation with both happiness levels and social trust is substantially stronger than the corresponding correlation for income inequality. This remains so after allowing for bounded scale reporting, including a purely ordinal measure of dispersion. Moreover, the correlation is stronger for individuals who profess to care most about inequality. The link between happiness and inequality may thus be stronger than previously appreciated. (JEL I31, D6, D63, D31)
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Decreasing levels of citizens' perceived well-being impact the level of trust in a society.
“Decreasing levels of citizens' perceived well-being also impact the level of trust in a society [103].”
From Trust, transparency, and openness: How inclusion of cultural values shapes Nordic national public policy strategies for artificial intelligence (AI) (2020) · cites this paper as [103]
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Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Harsanyi, J. (1955). Cardinal welfare, individualistic ethics, and the interper- sonal comparison of utility. Journal of Political Economy, 63, 309-321.
- Goff, L., Helliwell, J. F. & Mayraz, G. (2018). Inequality of subjective well-being as a comprehensive measure of inequality. Economic Inquiry, 56 (4), pp.2177-2194. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12582. Persistent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/214366 File Description: Accepted version
Cited by
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- Authors
- Goff, L., Helliwell, J. F., & Mayraz, G.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CA)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Goff, Leonard
- Helliwell, John F.
- Mayraz, Guy
- Venue
- Economic Inquiry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-05-04
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 2177-2194
- ISSN
- 0043-3640 (ISSN-L)
- 0095-2583
- 1465-7295
- OpenAlex
- W2803097171
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 11.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Economic Inquiry (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Quality of Life Measurement
- Keywords
- subjective well-being, happiness, inequality, inequality indices, social trust, income inequality
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