Arbeitspapier
Information technologies and subjective well-being: Does the internet raise material aspirations?
This paper examines whether access to modern information technologies, in particular the internet, has an impact on invididual positionality - meaning the degree to which subjective well-being is affected by income relative to others rather than absolute income. We provide empirical evidence that positionality and internet access are intertwined. Exploiting variation over time in a panel of European households, we find stated material aspirations to be significantly positively related to computer access in areas with advanced internet infrastructure. Furthermore, we report cross-sectional evidence from the World Values Survey suggesting an indirect negative effect of internet access on subjective well-being since people who regularly use the internet as a source of information derive less satisfaction from income. Together, the empirical findings highlight the importance of information sets for how individuals evaluate own living conditions relative to others and suggests a vital role for informational globalisation to affect positionality.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: cege Discussion Papers ; No. 169
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
General Welfare; Well-Being
- Subject
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subjective well-being
positionality
relative income
informational globalisation
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Lohmann, Steffen
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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University of Göttingen, Center for European, Governance and Economic Development Research (cege)
- (where)
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Göttingen
- (when)
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2013
- Handle
- Last update
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10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Lohmann, Steffen
- University of Göttingen, Center for European, Governance and Economic Development Research (cege)
Time of origin
- 2013