Beyond Happiness and Satisfaction: Toward Well-Being Indices Based on Stated Preference / Daniel J. Benjamin, Ori Heffetz, Miles S. Kimball, Nichole Szembrot.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benjamin, Daniel J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Heffetz, Ori.

Kimball, Miles S.

Szembrot, Nichole.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w18374.

NBER working paper series no. w18374

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2012.

Summary:

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 not only for happiness and life satisfaction, but also for aspects related to family, health, security, values, and freedoms.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2012.