An Economist’s Road to Subjective Well-Being

Subjective well-being

This paper examines the notion of “subjective well-being” as it is used in literature on subjective measures of well-being. I argue that those who employ the notion differ at least superficially on at least two points: first, about the relationship between subjective well-being and well-being simpliciter, and second, about the constituents of subjective well-being. In an effort to reconcile the...

Subjective well-being.

Positive Design: An Introduction to Design for Subjective Well-Being

In the past, TV commercials for the Dutch national lottery traditionally featured ordinary people enjoying expensive luxury products after winning big on the lottery. (Picture a local farmer driving a Lamborghini: see www.youtube.com/ watch?v=MWWkysK7FGo.) The message was straightforward: “Money generates happiness because it enables you to buy the products that you can only dream of with your ...

A subjective well-being approach

A subjective well-being approach is followed to assess the magnitude of inefficiency in the use of income. The information comes from a Mexican survey and an X-inefficiency technique is used. The paper shows that there exists substantial inefficiency in the use of income at all income levels, even for those in income poverty. It is shown that inefficiency is significantly related to practices, ...

Culture and Subjective Well-Being

Subjective well-being (SWB) is composed of people’s evaluations of their lives, including pleasant affect, infrequent unpleasant affect, life satisfaction (LS). We review the research literature concerning the influence of culture on SWB. We argue that some types of well-being, as well as their causes, are consistent across cultures, whereas there are also unique patterns of well-being in socie...