Title
Reference Group Inequality, Positional Goods, and Their Impact on Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Turkey
Campus
Dahlonega
Publication date
12-2021
Publisher
Routledge
Book or Journal Information
Review of Social Economy, 79(4), 636-663
Keywords
Happiness, Comparison effects, Positional goods, Inequality
Abstract
Using the 2013 Turkish Life Satisfaction Survey, we investigate two hypotheses that are novel to the happiness literature. The first of these hypotheses is that income dispersion/inequality within an individual’s reference group has a negative effect on happiness, ceteris paribus; we find evidence to support this hypothesis. The second hypothesis is that housing is a positional good that has a negative positional externality; we find evidence to support this hypothesis as well. Additionally, we explore the notion that non-pecuniary factors (like social life satisfaction) carry more weight in explaining happiness than do standard pecuniary factors (such as an individual’s own income). Our findings suggest that in large part, the path to a happy life is through gaining access to a wealth of non-pecuniary characteristics. In a broad sense, our study explores the significance that comparison effects in the pecuniary domain can have on individual happiness.
Reference Group Inequality, Positional Goods, and Their Impact on Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Turkey
Using the 2013 Turkish Life Satisfaction Survey, we investigate two hypotheses that are novel to the happiness literature. The first of these hypotheses is that income dispersion/inequality within an individual’s reference group has a negative effect on happiness, ceteris paribus; we find evidence to support this hypothesis. The second hypothesis is that housing is a positional good that has a negative positional externality; we find evidence to support this hypothesis as well. Additionally, we explore the notion that non-pecuniary factors (like social life satisfaction) carry more weight in explaining happiness than do standard pecuniary factors (such as an individual’s own income). Our findings suggest that in large part, the path to a happy life is through gaining access to a wealth of non-pecuniary characteristics. In a broad sense, our study explores the significance that comparison effects in the pecuniary domain can have on individual happiness.