Economic Growth Evens-Out Happiness: Evidence from Six Surveys

Pre-print, Working paper: In spite of the great U-turn that saw income inequality rise in Western countries in the 1980s, happiness inequality has fallen in countries that have experienced income growth (but not in those that did not). Modern growth has reduced the share of both the “very unhappy” and the “perfectly happy”. Lower happiness inequality is found both between and within countries, and between and within individuals. Our cross-country regression results argue that the extension of various public goods helps to explain this greater happiness homogeneity. This new stylised fact arguably comes as a bonus to the Easterlin paradox, offering a somewhat brighter perspective for developing countries.

Author(s)

Andrew E. Clark, Sarah Flèche, Claudia Senik

Date of publication
  • 2014
Keywords JEL
D31 D6 I3 O15
Keywords
  • Happiness
  • Inequality
  • Economic growth
  • Development
  • Easterlin paradox
Internal reference
  • PSE Working Papers n° 2014-37
Pages
  • 33 – 43
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 33