幸福经济学5

Fairlysatisfied:Economicequality,wealthandsatisfactionMichaelO
Connell*DepartmentofPsychology,D5ArtsBuilding,UniversityCollegeDublin,Belfield,Dublin4,RepublicofIrelandReceived1February2002;receivedinrevisedform11December2002;accepted15January2003AbstractResearchappearstodemonstratethateconomicvariablesareonlymarginallypredictiveoflevelsofsocialsatisfaction.Itwashypothesisedthatagreaterassociationmightbefoundbe-tweensatisfactionandequalityofincomedistributionratherthanbetweensatisfactionandsizeofincome.Theinterrelationshipbetweenwealth(GDPpc),equalityofincomeandmeansatisfactionfor15EUstateswasassessedoverafouryearperiod(1995–1998).Equalityofin-comewassignificantlyandpositivelyassociatedwithmeansatisfactionlevelsforallfouryearswhilewealthwassignificantlyassociatedwithmeansatisfactiononlyin1995.Onepossiblein-terpretationisthategalitariansocietiesaremoresatisfyingfortheirmembers,eitherbecauseofgreatersocialcohesionorbecausetheyhavemorechallengingworkopportunitiesforagreaterproportionofindividuals.Howeveralternativeexplanationsfortheassociationofequalityandsatisfactioncouldonlyberuledoutwhenconsistentdataonequalityisgatheredoveralongerperiodoftime.
2003ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.PsycINFOclassification:2910JELclassification:D31Keywords:Satisfaction;Subjectivewell-being;Incomedistribution;Socialprocesses;Economicdetermin-ism;Equality;Happiness*Tel.:[phone];fax:[phone].E-mailaddress:[e-mail](M.O
Connell).0167-4870/$-seefrontmatter
2003ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/S0167-4870(03)00010-2JournalofEconomicPsychology25(2004)297–305–notafunctionofeconomicfactors?Thereisabroadconsensusamongresearchersthateconomicfactorshaveonlyamodestimpactonpeople
slevelsofsocialsatisfaction.RonaldInglehart(1990,p.42)hasarguedthatthecorrelationbetweenincomeandhappiness‘‘issurprisinglyweak(indeedvirtuallynegligible)’’.WhilenotingthattheSwiss,oneofthewealthiestna-tionsintheworld,tendtoemergeonaverageasmoresatisfiedandthatpoorercoun-triessuchasthoseinEasternEuropeandthedevelopingworldtendtobelesssatisfied,Diener(2000)hassuggestedthatbeyondaGNPpercapitaofaround$8000,theassociationbetweenwealthandsatisfactiondisappears.Significantpayin-creases(Diener,Sandvik,Seidlitz,&Diener,1993)orevenlotterywins(Brickman,Coates,&Janoff-Bulman,1978)tendonlytoproduceshort-termeuphoria,notapermanentlyraisedlevelofsubjectivesatisfaction.Furthermore,whilerealincomelevelshaveincreaseddramaticallyinthewealthiestsocietiesinthelastfewdecades,satisfactionlevelsremainfairlyconstantwhiledepressionrateshaverisensignifi-cantly.Thetheoryofdiminishingreturnsiscommonlyusedtoexplainhowsubstantialincreasesinmaterialprosperitycanmakeagreatdifferencetothepoorwhilehavinglittleimpactonthealreadywell-off.Thus,whileapercapitaincreaseperannumof$500shouldhaveagreatimpactonsatisfactioninSierraLeone,itwillbebarelyno-ticedinLuxembourg.Therelativedeprivationapproachontheotherhandproposesthatsatisfactionisafunctionofthesubjectivecomparisonbetweenanindividual
sassessmentofhis/herownresourcesversusthoseofacomparablegroup.Thuschangesinabsoluteincomemakenodifferencetothesatisfactionfeltbyanindivid-ual–whatmattersishows/heisfaringrelativetothoseintheimmediateenviron-ment.BrickmanandCampbell(1971)proposedtheexistenceofanevenmoreanti-economicpsychologicalmodel–thatoftheadaptation-levelphenomenon.Thissuggeststhatpeoplequicklyadapttoanynewsuccesses(orfailures)intheirlivesandthataftertheinitialpleasure(ordisappointment)ofsuccess(orfailure),thefeelingsfadeandtheformeraspirationbecomesthenewneutralreality.Thusitisargued,peoplequicklyadapttoevensubstantialgainsorlossesinincome.Ryan(1999)hassuggestedthatnon-economicvaluessuchasintimacy,personalgrowthandcontributiontothecommunityaremorelikelytobringsatisfactionthaneconomicgains.Otherresearchershaveassessedtheinputofdemographicfactorsinexplainingdifferencesinsatisfactionorhappinesslevels.HoweverArgyle(1999),concludedthatvariableslikeage,sex,educationandmaritalstatuscouldonlyac-countforabout15%ofthevarianceinsatisfactionlevels.Alternativeapproacheshaveexaminedtheroleoftemperamentinvaryinglevelsofsubjectivesatisfaction–perhapssomepeoplehaveageneticpredispositiontobehappywhileothersdonot.Tellegrenetal.(1988)forexamplesuggestthatemotionalitygenerallyhasalargegeneticcomponent.HoweverInglehartandKlingemann(2000)havefoundconsistentandmedium-termdifferencesbetweendifferentsocietiesintermsofwealthsuggestingthatsocialandculturaldifferences,notjustgeneticfactors,haveanim-298M.O’Connell/JournalofEconomicPsychology25(2004)297–305portantroletoplay.Theoverallconsensusthoughisthateconomicgainsarenotpredictiveofsatisfactiononcepeopleriseaboveabasicminimum.1.2.EconomicequalityThereisasurprisingsimilarityinthecross-nationalaveragesofsubjectivewell-being
orhappinessasrecordedintheWorldValuessurvey(seeInglehart,1997,p.62)andthoseofphysicalwell-being,atleastifmeasuredbylifeexpectancy.Wil-kinsonhaschartedtherelationshipbetweenpercapitaincomeandlifeexpectancyinvariouscountriesandsuggestedth