PSC In The News
Bailey and Dynarski cited in piece on why quality education should be a "civil and moral right"
Kalousova and Burgard find credit card debt increases likelihood of foregoing medical care
Highlights
Arline Geronimus wins Excellence in Research Award from School of Public Health
Yu Xie to give DBASSE's David Lecture April 30, 2013 on "Is American Science in Decline?"
U-M grad programs do well in latest USN&WR "Best" rankings
Sheldon Danziger named president of Russell Sage Foundation
Back in September
Follow us What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?
Benjamin, Daniel J., Miles Kimball, O. Heffetz, and A. Rees-Jones. 2012. "What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?" American Economic Review, 102(5): 2083-2110.
Would people choose what they think would maximize their subjective well-being (SWB)? We present survey respondents with hypothetical scenarios and elicit both choice and predicted SWB rankings of two alternatives. While choice and predicted SWB rankings usually coincide in our data, we find systematic reversals. We identify factors-such as predicted sense of purpose, control over one's life, family happiness, and social status-that help explain hypothetical choice controlling for predicted SWB. We explore how our findings vary by SWB measure and by scenario. Our results have implications regarding the use of SWB survey questions as a proxy for utility.
DOI:10.1257/aer.102.5.2083 (Full Text)
PMCID: PMC3532045. (Pub Med Central)
Browse | Search : All Pubs | Next