Subjective Well-Being as Welfare Measure: Concepts and Methodology.

Fischer, Justina AV (2009): Subjective Well-Being as Welfare Measure: Concepts and Methodology.

Abstract

Happiness research is on the rise, but is confounded by competing definitions of subjective well-being based on co-existing concepts, resulting in differing measures and giving rise to different potential policy applications. This paper motivates the societal necessity for using well-being indicators and gives a short overview of the relation between the concepts ‘subjective well-being’, ‘affect’, ‘life satisfaction’, and ‘happiness’. It describes their measurements and operationalizations in surveys, illustrates their philosophical roots, discusses their validity and reliability, and attempts to shed light on the scope of their policy applicability. Focus of this paper is on practical issues when applying measures of subjective well-being for policy evaluations. Target audiences of this paper are the interested public and laypersons, non-expert economists, and statisticians.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Happiness; Life Satisfaction; Subjective Well-Being; Concepts; Methodology; Measurement; Econometrics; History; Behavioral Economics
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C33 - Panel Data Models ; Spatio-temporal Models; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C13 - Estimation: General; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; Z - Other Special Topics > Z0 - General; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology ; Computer Programs > C81 - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data ; Data Access; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925 > B11 - Preclassical (Ancient, Medieval, Mercantilist, Physiocratic); D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D01 - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles

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