American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Beyond Happiness and Satisfaction: Toward Well-Being Indices Based on Stated Preference
American Economic Review
vol. 104,
no. 9, September 2014
(pp. 2698–2735)
Abstract
This paper proposes foundations and a methodology for survey-based tracking of well-being. First, we develop a theory in which utility depends on "fundamental aspects" of well-being, measurable with surveys. Second, drawing from psychologists, philosophers, and economists, we compile a comprehensive list of such aspects. Third, we demonstrate our proposed method for estimating the aspects' relative marginal utilities—a necessary input for constructing an individual-level well-being index—by asking ~4,600 U.S. survey respondents to state their preference between pairs of aspect bundles. We estimate high relative marginal utilities for aspects related to family, health, security, values, freedom, happiness, and life satisfaction.Citation
Benjamin, Daniel J., Ori Heffetz, Miles S. Kimball, and Nichole Szembrot. 2014. "Beyond Happiness and Satisfaction: Toward Well-Being Indices Based on Stated Preference." American Economic Review, 104 (9): 2698–2735. DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.9.2698Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C43 Index Numbers and Aggregation; Leading indicators
- C83 Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- I31 General Welfare; Well-Being