Beyond Happiness and Satisfaction: Toward Well-Being Indices Based on Stated Preference

Daniel J Benjamin, Ori Heffetz, Miles S Kimball, Nichole Szembrot

Research output: Working paper/preprintWorking paper

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 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.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCambridge, Mass
PublisherNational Bureau of Economic Research
Number of pages48
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

Publication series

NameNBER working paper series
PublisherNational Bureau of Economic Research
Volumeno. w18374

Bibliographical note

September 2012.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Beyond Happiness and Satisfaction: Toward Well-Being Indices Based on Stated Preference'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this