This paper explores the determinants of individual well-being as measured by self-reported levels of satisfaction with income as well as with life in general. Making full use of the panel nature of the representative microdata from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we provide empirical evidence for well-being depending on absolute and on relative levels of income in a dynamic framework where both status and signal effects play a role. This finding holds after controlling for other influential factors in a multivariate setting. The main novelty of the paper is the consideration of dynamic aspects: the individual's own history as well as the relative income performance with respect to the others living in the society under analysis do play a major role in the assessment of individual well-being.
D'Ambrosio, C., Frick, J. (2012). Individual Well-Being in a Dynamic Perspective. ECONOMICA, 79(314), 284-302 [10.1111/j.1468-0335.2011.00896.x].
Individual Well-Being in a Dynamic Perspective
D'AMBROSIO, CONCHITA;
2012
Abstract
This paper explores the determinants of individual well-being as measured by self-reported levels of satisfaction with income as well as with life in general. Making full use of the panel nature of the representative microdata from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we provide empirical evidence for well-being depending on absolute and on relative levels of income in a dynamic framework where both status and signal effects play a role. This finding holds after controlling for other influential factors in a multivariate setting. The main novelty of the paper is the consideration of dynamic aspects: the individual's own history as well as the relative income performance with respect to the others living in the society under analysis do play a major role in the assessment of individual well-being.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.