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Book/Printed Material Neighbors as negatives relative earnings and well-being

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Title

  • Neighbors as negatives relative earnings and well-being

Summary

  • "This paper investigates whether individuals feel worse off when others around them earn more. In other words, do people care about relative position and does lagging behind the Joneses' diminish well-being? To answer this question, I match individual-level panel data containing a number of indicators of well-being to information about local average earnings. I find that, controlling for an individual's own income, higher earnings of neighbors are associated with lower levels of self-reported happiness. The data's panel nature and rich set of measures of well-being and behavior indicate that this association is not driven by selection or by changes in the way people define happiness. There is suggestive evidence that the negative effect of increases in neighbors' earnings on own well-being is most likely caused by interpersonal preferences people having utility functions that depend on relative consumption in addition to absolute consumption"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Names

  • Luttmer, Erzo F. P.
  • National Bureau of Economic Research

Created / Published

  • Cambridge, MA : National Bureau of Economic Research, c2004.

Headings

  • -  Envy--Economic aspects
  • -  Social status--United States
  • -  Social values--United States

Notes

  • -  Title from PDF file as viewed on 1/11/2005.
  • -  Includes bibliographical references.
  • -  Also available in print.
  • -  Mode of access: World Wide Web.
  • -  System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HB1

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2005615411

Access Advisory

  • Unrestricted online access

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

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Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Luttmer, Erzo F. P, and National Bureau Of Economic Research. Neighbors as Negatives Relative Earnings and Well-Being. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004. Pdf. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2005615411/.

APA citation style:

Luttmer, E. F. P. & National Bureau Of Economic Research. (2004) Neighbors as Negatives Relative Earnings and Well-Being. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2005615411/.

MLA citation style:

Luttmer, Erzo F. P, and National Bureau Of Economic Research. Neighbors as Negatives Relative Earnings and Well-Being. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/2005615411/>.