Inequality Hurts Happiness
Main Article Content
Abstract
Income inequality and its potential effect on human wellbeing is one of the key research areas in social science. Likewise, there is a lively debate about the optimal degree of government intervention to ensure wellbeing of citizens. The paper investigates impact of inequality and welfare on happiness in a panel of West European countries from 1970 to 2002, taking into account both individual and country-level variables. The results suggest that inequality hurts our wellbeing. Welfare states are happier than countries with limited welfare. Public policy implications are discussed.
Article Details
How to Cite
Okulicz-Kozyryn, A. (2015). Inequality Hurts Happiness. Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, 6(12), 135–152. Retrieved from https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/wfes/article/view/519
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References
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Bjornskov, C., Dreher, A., Fischer, J., (2007), The bigger the better? Evidence of the effect of government size on life satisfaction around the world, "Public Choice" 130
Blanchflower, D., (2009), Happiness and Health Care Coverage, IZA Discussion Papers
Bok, D., (2010), The politics of happiness: What government can learn from the new research on well-being, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press
Bray, I., Gunnell D., (2006), Suicide rates, life satisfaction and happiness as markers for population mental health, "Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology" 41
Brickman, P., Coates, D., Janoff-Buman, R., (1978), Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology" 36
Brooks, A., (2008), Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America - And How We Can Get More Of It, New York: Basic Books
Clark, A.E., Frijters, P., Shields, M.A., (2008), Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the easterlin paradox and other puzzles, "Journal of Economic Literature" 46
Csikszentmihalyi, M., (1991), Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper Perennial
Deininger, K., Squire L., (1996), A new data set measuring income inequality, "The World Bank Economic Review" 10
Di Telia, R., MacCulloch R., (2006), Some Uses of Happiness Data in Economics, "The Journal of Economic Perspectives" 20
Di Telia, R., MacCulloch, R.J., Oswald, A.J., (2001), Preferences over inflation and unemployment: Evidence from surveys of happiness, "American Economic Review" 91
Diener, E., (2009), Well-being for public policy, Oxford University Press
Diener, E., (2012), New findings and future directions for subjective well-being research, "American Psychologist" 67
Diener, E., Biswas-Diener, R., (2002), Will money increase subjective well-being? A literature review and guide to needed research, "Social Indicators Research" 57
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Seidlitz, L., Diener, M., (1993), The relationship between income and subjective well-being: relative or absolute? "Social Indicators Research" 28
Diener, E., Seligman, M.E.P., (2004), Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-being, "Psychological Science" 5
Dorahy, M.J., Lewis, C.A., Schumaker, J.F., Akuamoah-Boateng, R., Duze, M., Sibiya, T.E., (1998), A cross-cultural analysis of religion and life satisfaction, "Mental Health, Religion & Culture" 1
Durkheim, E., (1950), The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: The Free Press
Easterlin, R., (2013), Happiness, Growth, and Public Policy, "Economic Inquiry" 51
Easterlin, R.A., (1974), Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?, [In:] Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramovitz, P.A. David, M.W. Reder red., New York: Academic Press, Inc., Vol. 89
For richer, for poorer, "The Economist" 2012
Esping-Andersen, G., (1990): The three worlds of welfare capitalism, Polity Pr.
Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., Frijters, P., (2004), How Important is Methodology for the Estimates of the Determinants of Happiness?, "Economic Journal" 114
Freud, S., Riviere, J., Strachey, J., (1930), Civilization and its discontents, London: Hogarth Press
Fromm, E., (1994), Escape from freedom, Holt Paperbacks
Fromm, E., (1962), Beyond the chains of illusion: My encounter with Marx and Freud, Continuum International Publishing Group
Fromm, E., (1964), The heart of man: Its genius for good and evil, vol. 12, Taylor & Francis
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., Sachs, J., (2012), World happiness report, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
Kahneman, D., Tversky, A., (1979), Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk, "Econometrica" 47
Kahneman, D., Wakker, P.P., Sarin, R., (1997), Back to Bentham? Explorations of Experienced Utility, "The Quarterly Journal of Economics" 112
Kapoor, I., (2014), Psychoanalysis and development: contributions, examples, limits, "Third World Quarterly" 35
Kondo, N., Sembajwe, G., Kawachi, I., van Dam, R.M., Subramanian, S., Yamagata, Z., (2009), Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: Meta-analysis of multilevel studies, "BMJ: British Medical Journa"l 339
Lane, R.E., (2000), The loss of happiness in market democracies, New Haven CT: Yale University Press
Layard, R., (2005), Happiness. Lessons from a new science, New York: The Penguin Press
Lykken, D., Tellegen, A., (1996), Happiness is a Stochastic Phenomenon, "Psychological Science" 7
Maslow, A., ([1954] 1987), Motivation and personality, Longman, 3 ed.
Maslow, A., (1976), Religions, values, and peak-experiences, New York: Penguin
Michalos, A., (1985): Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), "Social Indicators Research" 16
Myers, D.G., (2000), The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People, "American Psychologist" 55
Nussbaum, M.C., (2005), Mill between Aristotle and Bentham, [In:] Economics and Happiness, L. Bruni, P.L. Porta red., Oxford University Press
Nussbaum, M.C., (2006): Conversations with History: Martha Nussbaum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy3YTzYjut48dist=PLDmIbYyjfK8BAq8q-ZYzakLXnGtQ8PS0I&index=147
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2011), City Life: Rankings (Livability) Versus Perceptions (Satisfaction), "Social Indicators Research" 110
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2011), Europeans Work to Live and Americans Live to Work (Who is Happy to Work More: Americans or Europeans?), "Journal of Happiness Studies" 12
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2014), Freedom from and freedom to across countries, Forthcoming in "Social Indicators Research"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2014), Winners and Losers in Transition: Preferences for Redistribution and Nostalgia for Communism in Eastern Europe, Kyklos
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2015), Freedom and Life Satisfaction in Transition, Forthcoming in "Society and Economy"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2015), Income Inequality and Wellbeing, "Applied Research in Quality of Life"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., Holmes, O., Avery, D.R., (2014), The Subjective Well-Being Political Paradox: Happy Welfare States and Unhappy Liberals, "Journal of Applied Psychology"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., Tursi, N.O., (2015), Luxury Car Owners Are Not Happier Than Frugal Car Owners, Forthcoming in "International Review of Economics"
Oswald, A., (2014), Keynote II, 2014 Wellbeing and Public Policy Conference at Hamilton College
Pacek, A., Radcliff B., (2008), Welfare Policy and Subjective Well-Being Across Nations: An Individual-Level Assessment, "Social Indicators Research" 89
Radcliff, B., (2001), Politics, Markets, and Life Satisfaction: The Political Economy of Human Happiness, "American Political Science Review" 95
Rasmussen, D., (2006), Does Bettering our Condition Really make us Better off? Adam Smith on Progress and Happiness, "American Political Science Review" 100
Sandvik, E., Diener, E., Seidlitz, L., (1993), Subjective Well-Being: The Convergence and Stability of Self-Report and Non-Self-Report Measures, "Journal of Personality" 61
Scruggs, L., Allan, J., (2006), Welfare-state decommodification in 18 OECD countries: A replication and revision, "Journal of European Social Policy" 16
Seligman, M., (2004), The new era of positive psychology, Ted Talk, http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html
Seligman, M., Steen, T., Park, N., Peterson, C., (2005), Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions, "American Psychologist" 60
Sen, A., (2000), Development as Freedom, Anchor Books
Steel, P., Schmidt, J., Shultz, J., (2008), Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being, "Psychological Bulletin",134
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A., Fitoussi, J., (2009), Report by the Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress, Available at www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr.
Veenhoven, R., (1991), Is happiness relative?, "Social Indicators Research" 24
Veenhoven, R., (2000), Well-being in the welfare state: Level not higher, distribution not more equitable, "Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice" 2
Veenhoven, R., (2008), Sociological theories of subjective well-being, [In:] The Science of Subjective Well-being: A tribute to Ed Diener, M. Eid, R. Larsen red., New York: The Guilford Press
Veenhoven, R., Ehrhardt, J., (1995), The Cross-National Pattern of Happiness: Test of Predictions Implied in Three Theories of Happiness, "Social Indicators Research" 34
Wilkinson, R.G., Pickett, K.E., (2006), Income inequality and population health: A review and explanation of the evidence, "Social Science & Medicine" 62
Wilkinson, R.G., Pickett, K.E., (2010), The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone, Penguin
Alesina, A. Glaeser, E., (2004), Fighting poverty in the U.S. and Europe: A World of Difference, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Becker, G., (1983), A theory of competition among pressure groups for political influence, "The Quarterly Journal of Economics" 98
Bjornskov, C., Dreher, A., Fischer, J., (2007), The bigger the better? Evidence of the effect of government size on life satisfaction around the world, "Public Choice" 130
Blanchflower, D., (2009), Happiness and Health Care Coverage, IZA Discussion Papers
Bok, D., (2010), The politics of happiness: What government can learn from the new research on well-being, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press
Bray, I., Gunnell D., (2006), Suicide rates, life satisfaction and happiness as markers for population mental health, "Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology" 41
Brickman, P., Coates, D., Janoff-Buman, R., (1978), Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology" 36
Brooks, A., (2008), Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America - And How We Can Get More Of It, New York: Basic Books
Clark, A.E., Frijters, P., Shields, M.A., (2008), Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the easterlin paradox and other puzzles, "Journal of Economic Literature" 46
Csikszentmihalyi, M., (1991), Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper Perennial
Deininger, K., Squire L., (1996), A new data set measuring income inequality, "The World Bank Economic Review" 10
Di Telia, R., MacCulloch R., (2006), Some Uses of Happiness Data in Economics, "The Journal of Economic Perspectives" 20
Di Telia, R., MacCulloch, R.J., Oswald, A.J., (2001), Preferences over inflation and unemployment: Evidence from surveys of happiness, "American Economic Review" 91
Diener, E., (2009), Well-being for public policy, Oxford University Press
Diener, E., (2012), New findings and future directions for subjective well-being research, "American Psychologist" 67
Diener, E., Biswas-Diener, R., (2002), Will money increase subjective well-being? A literature review and guide to needed research, "Social Indicators Research" 57
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Seidlitz, L., Diener, M., (1993), The relationship between income and subjective well-being: relative or absolute? "Social Indicators Research" 28
Diener, E., Seligman, M.E.P., (2004), Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-being, "Psychological Science" 5
Dorahy, M.J., Lewis, C.A., Schumaker, J.F., Akuamoah-Boateng, R., Duze, M., Sibiya, T.E., (1998), A cross-cultural analysis of religion and life satisfaction, "Mental Health, Religion & Culture" 1
Durkheim, E., (1950), The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: The Free Press
Easterlin, R., (2013), Happiness, Growth, and Public Policy, "Economic Inquiry" 51
Easterlin, R.A., (1974), Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?, [In:] Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramovitz, P.A. David, M.W. Reder red., New York: Academic Press, Inc., Vol. 89
For richer, for poorer, "The Economist" 2012
Esping-Andersen, G., (1990): The three worlds of welfare capitalism, Polity Pr.
Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., Frijters, P., (2004), How Important is Methodology for the Estimates of the Determinants of Happiness?, "Economic Journal" 114
Freud, S., Riviere, J., Strachey, J., (1930), Civilization and its discontents, London: Hogarth Press
Fromm, E., (1994), Escape from freedom, Holt Paperbacks
Fromm, E., (1962), Beyond the chains of illusion: My encounter with Marx and Freud, Continuum International Publishing Group
Fromm, E., (1964), The heart of man: Its genius for good and evil, vol. 12, Taylor & Francis
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., Sachs, J., (2012), World happiness report, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
Kahneman, D., Tversky, A., (1979), Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk, "Econometrica" 47
Kahneman, D., Wakker, P.P., Sarin, R., (1997), Back to Bentham? Explorations of Experienced Utility, "The Quarterly Journal of Economics" 112
Kapoor, I., (2014), Psychoanalysis and development: contributions, examples, limits, "Third World Quarterly" 35
Kondo, N., Sembajwe, G., Kawachi, I., van Dam, R.M., Subramanian, S., Yamagata, Z., (2009), Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: Meta-analysis of multilevel studies, "BMJ: British Medical Journa"l 339
Lane, R.E., (2000), The loss of happiness in market democracies, New Haven CT: Yale University Press
Layard, R., (2005), Happiness. Lessons from a new science, New York: The Penguin Press
Lykken, D., Tellegen, A., (1996), Happiness is a Stochastic Phenomenon, "Psychological Science" 7
Maslow, A., ([1954] 1987), Motivation and personality, Longman, 3 ed.
Maslow, A., (1976), Religions, values, and peak-experiences, New York: Penguin
Michalos, A., (1985): Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), "Social Indicators Research" 16
Myers, D.G., (2000), The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People, "American Psychologist" 55
Nussbaum, M.C., (2005), Mill between Aristotle and Bentham, [In:] Economics and Happiness, L. Bruni, P.L. Porta red., Oxford University Press
Nussbaum, M.C., (2006): Conversations with History: Martha Nussbaum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy3YTzYjut48dist=PLDmIbYyjfK8BAq8q-ZYzakLXnGtQ8PS0I&index=147
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2011), City Life: Rankings (Livability) Versus Perceptions (Satisfaction), "Social Indicators Research" 110
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2011), Europeans Work to Live and Americans Live to Work (Who is Happy to Work More: Americans or Europeans?), "Journal of Happiness Studies" 12
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2014), Freedom from and freedom to across countries, Forthcoming in "Social Indicators Research"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2014), Winners and Losers in Transition: Preferences for Redistribution and Nostalgia for Communism in Eastern Europe, Kyklos
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2015), Freedom and Life Satisfaction in Transition, Forthcoming in "Society and Economy"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., (2015), Income Inequality and Wellbeing, "Applied Research in Quality of Life"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., Holmes, O., Avery, D.R., (2014), The Subjective Well-Being Political Paradox: Happy Welfare States and Unhappy Liberals, "Journal of Applied Psychology"
Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., Tursi, N.O., (2015), Luxury Car Owners Are Not Happier Than Frugal Car Owners, Forthcoming in "International Review of Economics"
Oswald, A., (2014), Keynote II, 2014 Wellbeing and Public Policy Conference at Hamilton College
Pacek, A., Radcliff B., (2008), Welfare Policy and Subjective Well-Being Across Nations: An Individual-Level Assessment, "Social Indicators Research" 89
Radcliff, B., (2001), Politics, Markets, and Life Satisfaction: The Political Economy of Human Happiness, "American Political Science Review" 95
Rasmussen, D., (2006), Does Bettering our Condition Really make us Better off? Adam Smith on Progress and Happiness, "American Political Science Review" 100
Sandvik, E., Diener, E., Seidlitz, L., (1993), Subjective Well-Being: The Convergence and Stability of Self-Report and Non-Self-Report Measures, "Journal of Personality" 61
Scruggs, L., Allan, J., (2006), Welfare-state decommodification in 18 OECD countries: A replication and revision, "Journal of European Social Policy" 16
Seligman, M., (2004), The new era of positive psychology, Ted Talk, http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html
Seligman, M., Steen, T., Park, N., Peterson, C., (2005), Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions, "American Psychologist" 60
Sen, A., (2000), Development as Freedom, Anchor Books
Steel, P., Schmidt, J., Shultz, J., (2008), Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being, "Psychological Bulletin",134
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A., Fitoussi, J., (2009), Report by the Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress, Available at www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr.
Veenhoven, R., (1991), Is happiness relative?, "Social Indicators Research" 24
Veenhoven, R., (2000), Well-being in the welfare state: Level not higher, distribution not more equitable, "Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice" 2
Veenhoven, R., (2008), Sociological theories of subjective well-being, [In:] The Science of Subjective Well-being: A tribute to Ed Diener, M. Eid, R. Larsen red., New York: The Guilford Press
Veenhoven, R., Ehrhardt, J., (1995), The Cross-National Pattern of Happiness: Test of Predictions Implied in Three Theories of Happiness, "Social Indicators Research" 34
Wilkinson, R.G., Pickett, K.E., (2006), Income inequality and population health: A review and explanation of the evidence, "Social Science & Medicine" 62
Wilkinson, R.G., Pickett, K.E., (2010), The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone, Penguin