Arbeitspapier
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
In this paper, we revisit the association between happiness and inequality. We argue that the perceived fairness of the income generation process affects this association. Building on a two-period model of individual life-time utility maximization, we predict that persons with higher perceived fairness will experience higher levels of life-time utility and are less in favor of income redistribution. In societies with a high level of actual social mobility, income inequality is perceived more positively with increased expected fairness. The opposite is expected for countries with low actual social mobility, due to an increasing relevance of a disappointment effect resulting from unsuccessful individual investments. Using the World Values Survey data and a broad set of fairness measures, we find strong support for the negative (positive) association between fairness perceptions and the demand for more equal incomes (subjective well-being). We also find strong empirical support for the disappointment effect in low social mobility countries. In contrast, the results for high-mobility countries turn out to be ambiguous.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
-
Series: Discussion Paper Series ; No. 495
- Classification
-
Wirtschaft
General Welfare; Well-Being
Publicly Provided Goods: General
Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
- Subject
-
Happiness
life satisfaction
subjective well-being
inequality
income distribution
redistribution
political ideology
justice
fairness
Einkommensverteilung
Zufriedenheit
Verteilungsgerechtigkeit
Eigeninteresse
Wahrnehmung
Soziale Lage
Welt
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Bjørnskov, Christian
Dreher, Axel
Fischer, Justina A. V.
Schnellenbach, Jan
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
- (where)
-
Heidelberg
- (when)
-
2010
- DOI
-
doi:10.11588/heidok.00010276
- Handle
- URN
-
urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-102765
- Last update
-
20.09.2024, 8:22 AM CEST
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
- Bjørnskov, Christian
- Dreher, Axel
- Fischer, Justina A. V.
- Schnellenbach, Jan
- University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
Time of origin
- 2010
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On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
Inequality and happiness: When perceived social mobility and economic reality do not match
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: Exploring different determinants across groups in society
The bigger the better? Evidence of the effect of government size on life satisfaction around the world
Formal institutions and subjective well-being: Revisiting the cross-country evidencee
On gender inequality and life satisfaction: Does discrimination matter?
On gender inequality and life satisfaction: Does discrimination matter?
Formal institutions and subjective well-being: Revisiting the cross-country evidence
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?
On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?