Relative to What or Whom? The Importance of Norms and Relative Standing to Well-Being in South Africa

World Development

Volumn 38, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 345-355

  Bookwalter, Jeffrey T ^a   Dalenberg, Douglas R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA   (United States)

Author keywords

Africa; happiness; relative income; South Africa; subjective well being

Indexed keywords

CORRELATION; HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE; HOUSEHOLD SURVEY; INCOME DISTRIBUTION; MODEL TEST; QUALITY OF LIFE; SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS;

SOUTH AFRICA;

EID: 75749093394     PISSN: 0305750X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.07.001     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. Bookwalter J.T., and Dalenberg D.R. Subjective well-being and household factors in South Africa. Social Indicators Research 65 3 (2004) 333-353
2. Bookwalter J.T., Fuller B.S., and Dalenberg D.R. Do household heads speak for the household? A research note. Social Indicators Research 79 3 (2006) 405-419
3. Caporale G.M., Georgellis Y., Tsitsianis N., and Yin Y.P. Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matter?. Journal of Economic Psychology 30 1 (2009) 42-51
4. Clark A., Frijters P., and Shields M. Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the Easterlin paradox and other puzzles. Journal of Economic Literature 46 1 (2008) 94-144
5. Clark A.E., and Oswald A.J. Satisfaction and comparison income. Journal of Public Economics 61 3 (1996) 359-381
6. Di Tella R., and MacCullough R. Some uses of happiness data in economics. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20 1 (2006) 25-46
7. Duesenberry J.S. Income, saving and the theory of consumer behavior (1949), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
8. Easterlin R. Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In: David P.A., and Reder M.W. (Eds). Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abromovitz (1974), Academic Press, New York 89-125
9. Easterlin, R. (1995). Will raising the incomes of all improve the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27(1), 35-47.
10. Falk A., and Knell M. Choosing the Joneses: Endogenous goals and reference standards. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 106 3 (2004) 417-435
11. Ferrer-i-Carbonell A. Income and well-being: An empirical analysis of the comparison income effect. Journal of Public Economics 89 5-6 (2005) 997-1019
12. Frank R.H. The demand for unobservable and other non-positional goods. American Economic Review 75 1 (1985) 101-116
13. Frey B.S., and Stutzer A. What can economists learn from happiness research?. Journal of Economic Literature 40 2 (2002) 402-435
14. Heckman, J., Lochner, L., & Todd, P. (2003). Fifty years of mincer earnings regressions. IZA discussion paper no. 77.
15. Helliwell J.F. How's life? Combining individual and national variables to explain subjective well-being. Economic Modeling 20 1 (2003) 331-360
16. Kahneman D., and Krueger A.B. Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20 1 (2006) 3-24
17. Kingdon G.G., and Knight J. Subjective well-being poverty vs. income poverty and capabilities poverty. Journal of Development Studies 42 7 (2006) 1199-1224
18. Kingdon G.G., and Knight J. Community, comparisons and subjective well-being in a divided society. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 64 1 (2007) 69-90
19. Klasen S. Measuring poverty and deprivation in South Africa. Review of Income and Wealth 46 1 (2000) 33-58
20. Luttmer E.F.P. Neighbors as negatives: Relative earnings and well-being. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 120 3 (2005) 963-1002
21. Marx, K. (1847). Wage labour and capital (F. Engels, Trans.) .
22. May J., Carter M., and Posel D. The composition and persistence of rural poverty in South Africa. Land and agriculture policy centre working paper 15 (1995), LAPC, Johannesburg
23. McBride M. Relative-income effects on subjective well-being in the cross-section. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 45 3 (2001) 251-278
24. Postlewaite A. The social basis of interdependent preferences. European Economic Review 42 3-5 (1998) 779-800
25. Robbins L. An essay on the nature and significance of economic science (1932), Macmillan, London
26. Rojas M. Experienced poverty and income poverty in Mexico: A subjective well-being approach. World Development 36 6 (2008) 1078-1093
27. Senik C. Income distribution and well-being: What can we learn from subjective data?. Journal of Economic Surveys 19 1 (2005) 43-63
28. StataCorp. Stata statistical software: Release 10.0 (2007), StataCorp, College Station, TX
29. Warner, J. M., & Bookwalter, J. T. (2005). Power and bargaining in intra-household resource allocation - Evidence from rural South Africa. University of Montana working paper.