Inequality and Happiness

Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada; Ramos, Xavi

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_185-1

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Beyond the marginal utility effect, inequality could affect aggregate short-term wellbeing through other pathways, such as perceived unfairness. Several recent studies find that developed countries display a negative relationship between domestic income inequality and life satisfaction, after controlling for household income (Blanchflower and Oswald, 2003;Ferrer-i-Carbonell and Ramos, 2012;Gruen and Klasen, 2013). Oishi et al report a 'negative link between income inequality and the happiness of lowerincome respondents [that] was explained not by lower household income, but by perceived unfairness and lack of trust' (Oishi et al, 2011: 1).…”

Section: Short-term Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic inequality and the long-term future

Schmidt,

Juijn

2023

Politics, Philosophy & Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why, if at all, should we object to economic inequality? Some central arguments – the argument from decreasing marginal utility for example – invoke instrumental reasons and object to inequality because of its effects. Such instrumental arguments, however, often concern only the static effects of inequality and neglect its intertemporal consequences. In this article, we address this striking gap and investigate income inequality's intertemporal consequences, including its potential effects on humanity's (very) long-term future. Following recent arguments around future generations and so-called longtermism, those effects might arguably matter more than inequality's short-term consequences. We assess whether we have instrumental reason to reduce economic inequality based on its intertemporal effects in the short, medium, and the very long term. We find a good short and medium-term instrumental case for lower economic inequality. We then argue, somewhat speculatively, that we have instrumental reasons for inequality reduction from a longtermist perspective too, primarily because greater inequality could increase existential risk. We thus have instrumental reasons to reduce inequality, regardless of which time-horizon we take. We then argue that from most consequentialist perspectives, this pro tanto reason also gives us all-things-considered reason. And even across most non-consequentialist views in philosophy, this argument gives us either an all-things-considered or at least weighty pro tanto reason against inequality.

show abstract

Section: Short-term Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic inequality and the long-term future

Schmidt,

Juijn

2023

Politics, Philosophy & Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Keeping up with the Joneses phenomenon is present in highly competitive societies, such as those where there is greater inequality (Cheung & Lucas, 2016; Delhey et al, 2017; Sommet et al, 2018), and involves upwards comparison with a richer reference group and a desire to distance oneself from low-SES groups (Rodríguez-Bailón et al, 2020). Comparing oneself with others in terms of income and resources not only makes individuals more aware of their social position but also increases their concern to maintain, raise or not fall from that position (Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Ramos, 2012).…”

Section: The Importance Of Status and Wealth In Highly Unequal Contex...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…El fenómeno de ‘tener lo mismo que el vecino’ está presente en sociedades altamente competitivas, como aquellas en las que existe más desigualdad (Cheung & Lucas, 2016; Delhey et al, 2017; Sommet et al, 2018), e implica una comparación al alza con un grupo de referencia más rico, y un deseo de distanciarse de los grupos de nivel socioeconómico bajo (Rodríguez-Bailón et al, 2020). Compararse con otras personas en términos de ingresos y recursos no solamente hace que los individuos tomen más conciencia de su posición social, también aumenta su preocupación para mantener, mejorar, o no descender de esa posición (Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Ramos, 2012).…”

Section: Efecto Normativo De La Desigualdad Económica: Evidencias Emp...unclassified

Normative effect of economic inequality: empirical evidence about conspicuous consumption (Efecto normativo de la desigualdad económica: evidencias empíricas sobre el consumo conspicuo)

Velandia-Morales

Rodríguez‐Bailón

Martínez

2023

International Journal of Social Psychology: Revista de Psicolog

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Economic inequality has negative consequences at different levels. At the individual level, it may affect social perception and configure specific features that may generate a normative climate. The current research’s main goals were (a) to analyse the effects of inequality on the attributions of others’ consumer behaviour and (b) to provide empirical evidence about how inequality configures normative consumer habits focusing on luxury consumption. This work includes three preregistered experimental studies. In Study 1 ( N = 276) and Study 2 ( N = 301), we used a between-participants design with two experimental conditions (high vs. low inequality). In Study 3, we reversed the order of the variables to identify whether luxury consumption triggered expectations about the levels of inequality in a specific context. Results showed that in high (vs. low) economic inequality settings, participants inferred more materialism, status-seeking, status anxiety and conspicuous consumption in others. Furthermore, luxury consumption became a predictor of economic inequality. Thus, economic inequality affects attribution processes and works as a clue to infer descriptive norms in a society.

show abstract

Non-Linear Impact of Income Inequality on Mental Health: Evidence from Low and Middle-Income Countries

Mishra,

Hailemariam,

Srivastava

et al. 2024

Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics &Amp; Econometrics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we examine the relationship between income inequality and mental health using a sample of low and middle-income countries over the period 1990–2019. Using a dynamic panel threshold model that allows for endogeneity in both the regressors and threshold variable, we find a non-linear relationship between income inequality and the prevalence of mental health disorders. Specifically, income inequality is associated with reduced prevalence of mental health disorders at low levels of income inequality but after it surpasses a threshold Gini coefficient (estimated between 39 and 49), it has an adverse effect on mental health. The impact is more pronounced in low income and lower middle-income countries. We also find evidence of heterogenous effects by age and gender. Our findings indicate the importance of modelling non-linearity in the income inequality-health relationship and highlight the importance of keeping income inequality within reasonable bounds.

show abstract

Inequality and Happiness

Cited by 5 publications

References 56 publications

Economic inequality and the long-term future

Economic inequality and the long-term future

Normative effect of economic inequality: empirical evidence about conspicuous consumption (Efecto normativo de la desigualdad económica: evidencias empíricas sobre el consumo conspicuo)

Non-Linear Impact of Income Inequality on Mental Health: Evidence from Low and Middle-Income Countries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About