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A note on the relationship between television viewing and individual happiness

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  • Kataria, Mitesh
  • Regner, Tobias

Abstract

In a recently published article, Bruni and Stanca (2008) suggest that television viewing has a negative impact on life satisfaction. In this note we argue that the empirical approach they use (an approach that omits the main effect of TV viewing in life satisfaction) is problematic. We estimate a microeconomic life satisfaction function and find little support for the claim that television viewing in general has a negative impact on individual happiness. Using a large cross-country comparison we find that there is a substantial heterogeneity across countries, which needs to be taken into account when concluding about television's effect on life satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Kataria, Mitesh & Regner, Tobias, 2011. "A note on the relationship between television viewing and individual happiness," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 53-58, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:40:y:2011:i:1:p:53-58
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    1. Luigino Bruni & Luca Stanca, 2006. "Income Aspirations, Television and Happiness: Evidence from the World Values Survey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 209-225, May.
    2. Frey, Bruno S. & Benesch, Christine & Stutzer, Alois, 2007. "Does watching TV make us happy?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 283-313, June.
    3. Bruni, Luigino & Stanca, Luca, 2008. "Watching alone: Relational goods, television and happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(3-4), pages 506-528, March.
    4. Astrid Matthey, 2010. "The Influence of Priming on Reference States," Games, MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-19, March.
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    1. Diversifying mental states
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2013-02-02 19:39:27

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    Cited by:

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    2. Farré, Lídia & Fasani, Francesco, 2013. "Media exposure and internal migration — Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 48-61.
    3. Anita Abramowska-Kmon, 2022. "What Makes People Aged 50+ in Poland Happy? The Role of Lifestyle: Evidence from Panel Data," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3221-3252, December.
    4. Bartosz Wilczek, 2018. "Media use and life satisfaction: the moderating role of social events," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 65(2), pages 157-184, June.
    5. Deniz Bayraktaroglu & Gul Gunaydin & Emre Selcuk & Anthony D. Ong, 2019. "A Daily Diary Investigation of the Link Between Television Watching and Positive Affect," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1089-1101, April.
    6. Hyll, Walter & Schneider, Lutz, 2013. "The causal effect of watching TV on material aspirations: Evidence from the “valley of the innocent”," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 37-51.
    7. Salahodjaev, Raufhon, 2014. "Can religion buy happiness? The case of Singapore," MPRA Paper 56777, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Monica Guillen-Royo, 2019. "Television, Sustainability and Subjective Wellbeing in Peru," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 895-917, January.
    9. Chadi, Adrian & Hoffmann, Manuel, 2021. "Television, Health, and Happiness: A Natural Experiment in West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 14721, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Luca Andriani & Gaygysyz Ashyrov, 2022. "Corruption and life satisfaction: Evidence from a transition survey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 511-535, November.
    11. Okuyama, Naoko, 2019. "A valuation of viewing public broadcasting with endogeneity: The life satisfaction approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Relational goods Subjective well-being TV consumption Happiness;

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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