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  4. December 2023
  5. Happy Times: Measuring Happiness Using Response Times

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Happy Times: Measuring Happiness Using Response Times

  • Shuo Liu
  • Nick Netzer
American Economic Review
vol. 113, no. 12, December 2023
(pp. 3289–3322)
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Abstract

Surveys measuring happiness or preferences generate discrete ordinal data. Ordered response models, which are used to analyze such data, suffer from an identification problem. Their conclusions depend on distributional assumptions about a latent variable. We propose using response times to solve that problem. Response times contain information about the distribution of the latent variable through a chronometric effect. Using an online survey experiment, we verify the chronometric effect. We then provide theoretical conditions for testing conventional distributional assumptions. These assumptions are rejected in some cases, but overall our evidence is consistent with the qualitative validity of the conventional models.

Citation

Liu, Shuo, and Nick Netzer. 2023. "Happy Times: Measuring Happiness Using Response Times." American Economic Review, 113 (12): 3289–3322. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211051

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • C14 Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
  • D60 Welfare Economics: General
  • D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
  • I31 General Welfare; Well-Being