What do Happiness Data Mean? Theory and Survey Evidence

Daniel J. Benjamin; Jakina Debnam Guzman; Marc Fleurbaey; Ori Heffetz; Miles Kimball

doi:10.1093/jeea/jvad026

What do Happiness Data Mean? Theory and Survey Evidence

Daniel J. Benjamin, Jakina Debnam Guzman, Marc Fleurbaey, Ori Heffetz, Miles Kimball

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

What utility notion - e.g. flow/lifetime, self/family-centered - do self-reported well-being (SWB) questions measure? Existing applications make different assumptions regarding the (i) life domains, (ii) time horizons, and (iii) other-regarding preferences captured by SWB data. To obtain relevant evidence, we ask survey respondents what they had in mind regarding (i)-(iii) when answering commonly used - life satisfaction, happiness, ladder - and new SWB questions. We find that respondents' self-reports differ from researchers' assumptions and differ across SWB questions and sociodemographic groups. At the same time, simple SWB-question wording tweaks are effective in moving self-reports toward desired interpretations. We outline actionable suggestions for SWB researchers.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2377-2412
Number of pages	36
Journal	Journal of the European Economic Association
Volume	21
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvad026
State	Published - Dec 1 2023
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

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10.1093/jeea/jvad026

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title = "What do Happiness Data Mean? Theory and Survey Evidence",

abstract = "What utility notion - e.g. flow/lifetime, self/family-centered - do self-reported well-being (SWB) questions measure? Existing applications make different assumptions regarding the (i) life domains, (ii) time horizons, and (iii) other-regarding preferences captured by SWB data. To obtain relevant evidence, we ask survey respondents what they had in mind regarding (i)-(iii) when answering commonly used - life satisfaction, happiness, ladder - and new SWB questions. We find that respondents' self-reports differ from researchers' assumptions and differ across SWB questions and sociodemographic groups. At the same time, simple SWB-question wording tweaks are effective in moving self-reports toward desired interpretations. We outline actionable suggestions for SWB researchers.",

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AU - Benjamin, Daniel J.

AU - Debnam Guzman, Jakina

AU - Fleurbaey, Marc

AU - Heffetz, Ori

AU - Kimball, Miles

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What do Happiness Data Mean? Theory and Survey Evidence

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