Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Arthur Grimes
Author-X-Name-First: Arthur 
Author-X-Name-Last: Grimes
Author-Email: Arthur.grimes@motu.org.nz
Author-Workplace-Name: Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
Author-Name: Stephen P. Jenkins
Author-X-Name-First: Stephen	
Author-X-Name-Last: Jenkins
Author-Email: s.jenkins@lse.ac.uk
Author-Workplace-Name: London School of Economics and Political Science, and IZA 
Author-Name: Florencia Tranquilli
Author-X-Name-First: Florencia 
Author-X-Name-Last: Tranquilli
Author-Email: flortranquilli@hotmail.com
Author-Workplace-Name: Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, and Victoria University of Wellington
Title: The Relationship between Subjective Wellbeing and Subjective Wellbeing Inequality: Taking Ordinality and Skewness Seriously.
Abstract:  We argue that the relationship between individual satisfaction with life (SWL) and SWL inequality is more complex than described by leading earlier research such as Goff, Helliwell, and Mayraz (Economic Inquiry, 2018). Using inequality indices appropriate for ordinal data, our analysis using the World Values Survey reveals that skewness of the SWL distribution, not only inequality, matters for individual SWL outcomes; so too does whether we look upwards or downwards at the (skewed) distribution. Our results are consistent with there being negative (positive) externalities for an individual’s SWL from seeing people who are low (high) in the SWL distribution.
Length: 20 pages
Creation-Date:  2020-10
File-URL: https://motu-www.motu.org.nz/wpapers/20_09.pdf
Number: 20_09
Classification-JEL: D31, D63, I31
Keywords: subjective wellbeing, ordinal data, inequality, skewness, WVS 
Handle: RePEc:mtu:wpaper:20_09