Abstract
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 US survey respondents to state their preference between pairs of aspect bundles. We estimate high relative marginal utilities for aspects related to family, health, security, values, freedom, happiness, and life satisfaction. (JEL C43, C83, D12, I 31).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2698-2735 |
| Number of pages | 38 |
| Journal | American Economic Review |
| Volume | 104 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Sep 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to acknowledge Drs. T. M. Hewston and M. P. Nadler of the Naval Weapons Center for obtaining the high temperature spectral measurements and Dr. R W. Schwartz, also of the Naval Weapons Center, for his helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research. In addition, acknowledgment is made to the National Science Foundation (DMR-82-03667) for the partial supoort of K. Dwight, and the authors express their appreciation for the use of Brown University's Materials Research Laboratory which is supported by the National Science Foundation.
Funding Information:
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