What Do People Want? / Daniel J. Benjamin, Kristen B. Cooper, Ori Heffetz, Miles S. Kimball, Tushar Kundu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benjamin, Daniel J.

Contributor:

Cooper, Kristen B.

Heffetz, Ori.

Kimball, Miles S.

Kundu, Tushar.

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w33846.

NBER working paper series no. w33846

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2025.

Summary:

Philosophical perspectives on human desires and values vary; economic theory-driven measurement techniques can provide relevant empirical evidence. We elicited over half a million stated preference choices over 126 dimensions or "aspects" of well-being from a sample of 896 online respondents. We also elicited, via self-reported well-being (SWB) questions, respondents' current levels of the aspects. From the stated preference data, we estimate for each aspect its relative marginal utility per point on our 0-100 response scale. We validate these estimates by comparing them to alternative methods for estimating preferences, and we offer a range of estimates between those that take self-reports at face value and those that (over-)correct for potential social-desirability reporting bias. Our findings suggest that our respondents value, first and foremost, three basic things: family, money, and health (not necessarily in this order). While commonly studied concepts--such as happiness, life satisfaction, life's ranking on a ladder, and meaning--are all important, respondents place the highest marginal utilities on aspects related to family well-being and health, and financial freedom and security. We document substantial heterogeneity in preferences across respondents within--but not between--demographic groups, with aspects' current levels predicting preferences for the aspects.

Notes:

May 2025.

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