This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

When Information Dominates Comparison: A Panel Data Analysis Using Russian Subjective Data

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Claudia Senik ()

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

We propose a micro-econometric investigation into the relation between subjective life satisfaction and income distribution, using a balanced panel survey of the Russian population (RLMS), running from 1994 to 2000, including 4096 individuals. We show that in the context of the Russian very volatile environment, Hirschman’s (1973) “tunnel effect” conjecture seems to be validated : variables reflecting income distribution do not influence satisfaction through social comparisons; individuals rather seem to use their informational content in order to form their expectations. The reference group’s income exerts a positive influence on individual satisfaction, which contrasts with other studies on the subject. Inequality indices do not affect individual welfare.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.wdi.umich.edu/files/Publications/WorkingPapers/wp495.pdf
File Format:
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School in its series William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series with number 495.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 53 pages
Date of creation:
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wdi:papers:2002-495

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 724 E. University Ave. Wyly Hall, Floor 1, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1234
Phone: 734 615 4566
Fax: (734) 763-5850
Email:
Web page: http://www.wdi.umich.edu
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Patricia Loh).

Related research
Keywords: subjective welfare; relative income; inequality; transition; panel data;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
P30 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - General

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Giacomo Corneo & Hans Peter Gruner, 2000. "Social Limits to Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1491-1507, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Arellano, Manuel & Bond, Stephen, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 58(2), pages 277-97, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2000. "Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USA," NBER Working Papers 7487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Branko Milanovic, 1999. "Explaining the increase in inequality during transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(2), pages 299-341, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Oswald, Andrew, 1997. "Happiness and Economic Performance," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 478, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2001. "Identifying Welfare Effects from Subjective Questions," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(271), pages 335-57, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert, 2005. "The consequences of labor market flexibility: Panel evidence based on survey data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1225-1259, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Mundlak, Yair, 1978. "On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 69-85, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Alberto Alesina & Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch, 2001. "Inequality and Happiness: Are Europeans and Americans Different?," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1938, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Van Praag, Bernard M. S. & Kapteyn, Arie, 1973. "Further evidence on the individual welfare function of income: An empirical investigatiion in The Netherlands," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 33-62, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Morawetz, David, 1977. "Income Distribution and Self-Rated Happiness: Some Empirical Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 87(347), pages 511-22, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Freeman, Richard B, 1978. "Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 135-41, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Kahneman, Daniel & Wakker, Peter P & Sarin, Rakesh, 1997. "Back to Bentham? Explorations of Experienced Utility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(2), pages 375-405, May.
  16. Ferreira, Francisco H. G., 1997. "Economic transition and the distributions of income and wealth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1808, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Andrew Clark, 2001. "Unemployment As A Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data," DELTA Working Papers 2001-17, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, . "Happiness, Economy and Institutions," IEW - Working Papers iewwp015, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  19. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Frank, Robert H, 1997. "The Frame of Reference as a Public Good," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1832-47, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Hirschman, Albert O., 1973. "The changing tolerance for income inequality in the course of economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 1(12), pages 29-36, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Corneo, Giacomo & Grüner, Hans Peter, 2001. "Individual Preferences for Political Redistribution," CEPR Discussion Papers 2694, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Winkelmann, Liliana & Winkelmann, Rainer, 1998. "Why Are the Unemployed So Unhappy? Evidence from Panel Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 1-15, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Brainerd, Elizabeth, 1998. "Winners and Losers in Russia's Economic Transition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1094-1116, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1997. "A Case for Happiness, Cardinalism, and Interpersonal Comparability," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1848-58, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  27. Grosfeld, Irena & Senik-Leygonie, Claudia & Verdier, Thierry & Kolenikov, Stanislav & Paltseva, Elena, 2001. "Workers' Heterogeneity and Risk Aversion: A Segmentation Model of the Russian Labor Market," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 230-256, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Michael Alexeev, 1999. "The effect of privatization on wealth distribution in Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(2), pages 449-465, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-59, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 1999. "Subjective economic welfare," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2106, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  31. Carol Graham & Stefano Pettinato, 2002. "Frustrated achievers: winners, losers and subjective well-being in new market economies," The Journal of Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 100-140, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Rauscher, Michael, 1992. "Keeping up with the Joneses : Chaotic patterns in a status game," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 287-290, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Simon Commander & Andrei Tolstopiatenko & Ruslan Yemtsov, 1999. "Channels of redistribution: Inequality and poverty in the Russian transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(2), pages 411-447, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Andrew E. Clark, 2008. "Happiness, habits and high rank: Comparisons in economic and social life," PSE Working Papers 2008-61, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  2. Andrew Clark & Andreas Knabe & Steffen Rätzel, 2008. "Boon or Bane?: Others' Unemployment, Well-Being and Job Insecurity," SOEPpapers 153, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2004. "Money, Sex, and Happiness: An Empirical Study," NBER Working Papers 10499, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Andrew Clark, 2003. "Inequality-Aversion and Income Mobility: A Direct Test," DELTA Working Papers 2003-11, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  5. Paul Frijters & Amy Y.C. Liu & Xin Meng, 2008. "Are optimistic expectations keeping the Chinese happy?," NCER Working Paper Series 37, National Centre for Econometric Research. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Over 1000 institutions contribute their bibliographic data directly to this service.

This page was last updated on 2009-10-23.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.