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A theory of happiness-wealth relationship with status-sensitive communication

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  • Levy, Amnon

Abstract

Personal happiness might not solely depend on the individual's level of wealth but also on the individual's level of sincere social capital. This paper argues that if sincere interpersonal communication is sensitive to economic status disparities, the accumulation of personal wealth beyond the community's average erodes the individual's sincere social capital. A measure of sincere social capital that is based on such sensitivity is constructed. Its consideration leads to the depiction of the individual's happiness-wealth relationship as an inverted U-shaped curve that peaks at personal wealth that is greater than the community mean.

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  • Levy, Amnon, 2009. "A theory of happiness-wealth relationship with status-sensitive communication," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 168-172, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:38:y:2009:i:1:p:168-172
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