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Better off? Distributional comparisons for ordinal data about personal well-being

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  • Jenkins, Stephen P.

Abstract

How to undertake distributional comparisons when personal well-being is measured using income is well-established. But what if personal well-being is measured using subjective well- being indicators such as life satisfaction or self-assessed health status? Has average well-being increased or well-being inequality decreased? How does the distribution of well-being in New Zealand compare with that in Australia, or between young and old people in New Zealand? This paper addresses questions such as these, stimulated by the increasing weight put on subjective well-being measures by international agencies such as the OECD and national governments including New Zealand’s. The paper reviews the methods appropriate for distributional comparisons in the ordinal data context, comparing them with those routinely used for comparisons of income distributions. The methods are illustrated using data from the World Values Survey.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenkins, Stephen P., 2019. "Better off? Distributional comparisons for ordinal data about personal well-being," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102585, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102585
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Benedicte Apouey, 2007. "Measuring health polarization with self‐assessed health data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(9), pages 875-894, September.
    2. Stephen P. Jenkins, 2021. "Inequality Comparisons with Ordinal Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(3), pages 547-563, September.
    3. Ruut Veenhoven, 2005. "Inequality Of Happiness in Nations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 351-355, December.
    4. Nicolas Gravel & Brice Magdalou & Patrick Moyes, 2014. "Ranking Distributions of an Ordinal Attribute," AMSE Working Papers 1450, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    5. Wim Kalmijn & Ruut Veenhoven, 2005. "Measuring Inequality of Happiness in Nations: In Search for Proper Statistics," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 357-396, December.
    6. Abul Naga, Ramses H. & Yalcin, Tarik, 2008. "Inequality measurement for ordered response health data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1614-1625, December.
    7. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4vsqk7docb9nmophtp29pk68cr is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Frank A. Cowell & Emmanuel Flachaire, 2017. "Inequality with Ordinal Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(334), pages 290-321, April.
    10. Timothy N. Bond & Kevin Lang, 2019. "The Sad Truth about Happiness Scales," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1629-1640.
    11. repec:bla:econom:v:50:y:1983:i:197:p:3-17 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Julian Blair & Michael G. Lacy, 2000. "Statistics of Ordinal Variation," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 28(3), pages 251-280, February.
    13. Allison, R. Andrew & Foster, James E., 2004. "Measuring health inequality using qualitative data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 505-524, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Olivier Bargain & Maria Lo Bue & Francesco Palmisano, 2022. "Dynastic Measures of Intergenerational Mobility," Working Papers hal-03896551, HAL.
    2. Stephen P. Jenkins, 2020. "Comparing distributions of ordinal data," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 20(3), pages 505-531, September.
    3. Arthur Grimes & Stephen P. Jenkins & Florencia Tranquilli, 2023. "The Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Subjective Wellbeing Inequality: An Important Role for Skewness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 309-330, January.
    4. Arthur Grimes & Stephen P. Jenkins & Florencia Tranquilli, 2020. "The Relationship between Subjective Wellbeing and Subjective Wellbeing Inequality: Taking Ordinality and Skewness Seriously," Working Papers 20_09, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    5. Voerman-Tam, Diana & Grimes, Arthur & Watson, Nicholas, 2023. "The economics of free speech: Subjective wellbeing and empowerment of marginalized citizens," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 260-274.
    6. Stephen P. Jenkins, 2021. "Inequality Comparisons with Ordinal Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(3), pages 547-563, September.
    7. Pascarn R. Dickinson & Philip S. Morrison, 2022. "Aversion to Local Wellbeing Inequality is Moderated by Social Engagement and Sense of Community," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 907-926, February.
    8. Olivier Bargain & Maria C. Lo Bue & Flaviana Palmisano, 2021. "Dynastic measures of inter-generational mobility with empirical evidence from Indonesia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-70, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Arthur Grimes, 2022. "Measuring Pandemic and Lockdown Impacts on Wellbeing," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 409-427, June.
    10. Jenkins, Stephen P., 2022. "Getting the Measure of Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 14996, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; ordinal data; subjective well-being; life satisfaction; world Values Survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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