Does inequality matter to individual welfare? An initial exploration based on happiness surveys from Latin America

Happiness, Economics and Politics: Towards a Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Volumn , Issue , 2009, Pages 158-201

  Graham, Carol ^a,b   Felton, Andrew ^c  

^a BROOKINGS INSTITUTION   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

^c FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84881914974     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Chapter

References (57)

1. Acemoglu, D. and J. Robinson (2002), 'The political economy of the Kuznets Curve', Review of Development Economics, 6 (2), 183-203.
2. Aitchison, J. (1957), The Lognormal Distribution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Alesina, A., R. Di Tella and R. MacCulloch (2004), 'Inequality and happiness: are Europeans and Americans different?', Journal of Public Economics, 88, 2009-42.
4. Arrow, K., S. Bowles and S. Durlauf (2000), Meritocracy and Economic Inequality, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
5. Ball, R. and K. Chernova (2004), 'Absolute income, relative income, and happiness', paper presented at the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, Philadelphia, November.
6. Barro, R. (2001), 'Inequality, growth, and investment', in K. Hassett and R.G. Hubbard (eds), Inequality and Tax Policy, Washington, DC: The AEI Press, pp. 1-38.
7. Behrman, J., N. Birdsall and M. Szekely (2001), 'Economic reform and wage differentials in Latin America', Carnegie Endowment Working Papers.
8. Benabou, R. (2000), 'Unequal societies: income redistribution and the social contract', American Economic Review, 90, March, 96-129.
9. Benabou, R. and E. Ok (2001), 'Social mobility and the demand for redistribution: the POUM hypothesis', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116, 447-87.
10. Bertrand, Marianne and Sendil Mullainathan (2001), 'Do people mean what they say? Implications for subjective survey data', American Economic Review, 91,67-72.
11. Birdsall, N. (2000), 'Unequal societies: income distribution and the social contract', American Economic Review, 90, 96-129.
12. Birdsall, N., D. Ross and R. Sabot (1995), 'Inequality and growth reconsidered', World Bank Economic Review, 9, 477-508.
13. Birdsall, N. and J.L. Londono (1997), 'Asset inequality matters: an assessment of the World Bank's approach to poverty reduction', American Economic Review, 87, 32-7.
14. Birdsall, Nancy and Carol Graham (2000), New Markets, New Opportunities:.
15. Economic and Social Mobility in a Changing World, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution Press and the Carnegie Endowment for International peace.
16. Birdsall, N., C. Graham and R. Sabot (eds) (1998), Beyond Trade-offs: Market Reforms and Equitable Growth in Latin America, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution Press and the Inter-American Development Bank.
17. Blanchflower, D. and A. Oswald (2003), 'Does inequality reduce happiness? Evidence from the states of the USA from the 1970's to the 1990's', Journal of Public Economics, 88, 1359-87.
18. Blanchflower, D. and A. Oswald (2004), 'Well-being over time in Britain and the USA', Journal of Public Economics, 88, 1359-87.
19. Boeri, T., A. Borsh-Supan and G. Tabellini (2001), 'Welfare state reform: a survey of what Europeans want', Economic Policy, London.
20. Brown, G., J. Gardner, A. Oswald and J. Qian, (2003), 'Does wage rank affect well being?', Paper presented to the Brookings/Warwick Conference on 'Does Inequality Matter? Lessons from the Economics of Happiness', Washington, DC, 5-6 June.
21. Clark, A. (2003), 'Inequality-aversion and income mobility: a direct test', DELTA Working Paper 2003-11, Paris, France.
22. Clark, A. and A. Oswald (1994), 'Unhappiness and unemployment', The Economic Journal, 104, 648-59.
23. Contreras, D., R. Cooper, J. Herman and C. Neilson (2004), 'Dinamica de la Pobreza y Movilidad Social: Chile 1996-2001', Mimeo, Santiago, Chile.
24. Cummins, R. and E. Gullone (2002), 'Why we should not use 5-point Likert scales: the case for subjective quality of life measurement', in Proceedings: Second International Conference on Quality of Life in Cities, Singapore: National University of Singapore, pp. 74-93.
25. Diener, E. and R. Biswas-Diener (2000), 'Income and subjective well-being: will money make us happy?', Mimeo, University of Indiana, Champlain.
26. Diener, E., E. Sandvik, L. Seidlitz and M. Diener (1993), 'The relationship between income and subjective well-being: relative or absolute?', Social Indicators Research, 28, 195-223.
27. Di Tella, R. and R. MacCulloch (2003), 'Income, happiness, and inequality as measures of welfare', paper presented to the Brookings-Warwick University Conference on 'Why Inequality Matters: Lessons from the Economics ofHappiness', Washington, DC, 5-6 June.
28. Easterlin, R. (1974), 'Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence', in P. David and M. Reder (eds), Nations and Households in Economic Growth, New York: Academic Press, pp. 804-79.
29. Easterlin, R. (1995), 'Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?', Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27, 35-48.
30. Easterlin, R. (2001), 'Life cycle welfare: trends and differences', Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 1-12.
31. Easterlin, R. (2003), 'Income and happiness: towards a unified theory', The Economic Journal, 111, 465-84.
32. Eggers, A., C. Gaddy and C. Graham (2006), 'Unemployment and well being in Russia in the 1990's: can society's suffering be individuals' solace?', Journal of Socio-Economics, 35 (2), 209-42.
33. Filmer, D. and L. Pritchett (2001), 'Estimating wealth effects without expenditure data or tears: an application to educational enrollments in states of India', Demography, 38 (1), 115-32.
34. Frank, R. (1999), Luxury Fever: Money and Happiness in an Era of Excess, New York: The Free Press.
35. Frey, B. and A. Stutzer (2002), 'What can economists learn from happiness research?', Journal of Economic Literature, 20, 402-35.
36. Frey, B., M. Benz and A. Stutzer (2004), 'Introducing procedural utility: not only what but also how matters', Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 160 (3), 377-401.
37. Graham, C. and S. Pettinato (2001), 'Happiness, markets and democracy: Latin America in comparative perspective', Journal of Happiness Studies, 2 (3),237-68.
38. Graham, C. and S. Pettinato (2002a), 'Frustrated achievers: winners, losers, and subjective well being in new market economies', Journal of Development Studies, 38 (4), 100-40.
39. Graham, C. and S. Pettinato (2002b), Happiness and Hardship: Opportunity and Insecurity in New Market Economies, Washington, DC: The BrookingsInstitution Press.
40. Graham, C. and S. Sukhtankar (2004), 'Is economic crisis reducing support for markets and democracy in Latin America? Some evidence from surveys of public opinion and well being', Journal of Latin American Studies, 36, 349-77.
41. Graham, C. and P. Young (2003), 'Ignorance fills the income gulf', The Boston Globe, 23 June.
42. Graham, C. and P. Young (2004), Rags to Riches? The American Dream is Less Common in the United States than Elsewhere, Washington, DC: The Century Foundation Press.
43. Graham, C., A. Eggers and S. Sukhtankar (2004), 'Does happiness pay? some evidence from panel data for Russia', Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 55.
44. agerty, M. (1999), 'Social comparisons of income in one's community: evidence from national surveys of income and happiness', Mimeo, San Diego, California.
45. Kingdon, G. and J. Knight (2004), 'Community, comparisons and subjective wellbeing in a divided society', WPS No. 2004-21, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Department of Economics, University of Oxford.
46. Luttmer, Erzo (2004), 'Neighbors as negatives: relative earnings and well-being', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120 (3), 963-1002.
47. McMurrer, D. and I. Sawhill (1998), Getting Ahead: Economic and Social Mobility in the United States, Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
48. Moene, K. and M. Wallerstein (2003), 'Earnings inequality and welfare spending: a disaggregated analysis', World Politics, 55 (4), 292-303.
49. Oswald, A. with Jonathan Gardner (2004), 'How is mortality affected by money, marriage and stress?', Journal of Health Economics, 23, 1181-207.
50. Pitketty, T. (1995), 'Social mobility and redistributive politics', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110, 551-84.
51. Ravallion, M. (2004), 'Competing concepts of inequality in the globalization debate', in S. Collins and C. Graham (eds) (2004), Brookings Trade Forum 2004: Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution Press.
52. Schwarze, J. and M. Harpfer (2004), 'Are people inequality averse and do they prefer redistribution by the state? Evidence from German longitudinal data on life satisfaction', Frankfurt: Working Paper No. 707, German Institute for Economic Research.
53. Stutzer, A. and R. Lalive (2004), 'The role of social work norms in job searching and subjective well being', Journal of the European Economic Association, 2 (4), 696-71.
54. Tomes, N. (1986), 'Income distribution, happiness, and satisfaction: a direct test of the interdependent preferences model', Journal of Economic Psychology, 7, 425-46.
55. VTsIOM (2004), 'Moskva glazami Rossiyan' ('Moscow as seen by Russians'), Press Release No. 113, 3 September.
56. Young, P. (1995), Equity: In Theory and Practice, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
57. United Nations Development Program (2004), Human Development Indicators, www.hdr.undp.org.