Event overview
How is life-satisfaction biased by peer comparison, by looking at the relative value attached to the different domains of life-satisfaction, after the 2008 financial crisis?
Economic Shocks on Subjective Well‑Being: Re‑assessing the Determinants of Life‑Satisfaction After the 2008 Financial Crisis
Abstract:
The paper presented at this seminar investigates the extent to which life-satisfaction is biased by peer comparison by looking at the relative value attached to the different domains of life-satisfaction, as suggested by Easterlin (Economics and happiness: framing the analysis, Oxford University Press, New York, 2005), by social group. Dr Charles and her co-authors postulate that group membership influences the ranking of the satisfaction domains affecting subjective well-being which allows individuals to go back to their individual threshold over time. Using ordered probit models with random effects, the evidence for professional (self-employed vs. employee) and social (male vs. female) groups using the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society—UK Household Longitudinal Study from 1996 to 2014 shows that the ranking of the satisfaction domains is group-based suggesting a “keeping up with the Joneses” effect linked to the housing bubble.
Aurelie Charles is a Lecturer in global political economy with particular expertise on group behaviour in socio-ecological interactions at the Department of Social & Policy Sciences, Centre for Development Studies, Bath Institute for Mathematical Innovation (BIMI) and the Centre for Analysis of Social Policy (CASP).
Her research interests relate to the measurement of social norms, their impact on individual decision-making and well-being by combining critical theories around resource entitlements with an innovative use of time-series econometrics. Dr Charles' current research projects evolve around sustainable earnings, group inequality mapping, and cross-disciplinary approaches to climate justice and action.
https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/aurelie-charles
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Feb 2019 | 4:00pm - 5:30pm |
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