Income Improves Subjective Well-Being
Evidence from South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4361705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mo Alloush (0000-0001-8490-4215, Hamilton College), Shinyi Wu (0000-0002-6624-3385, Hamilton College) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 485-517 |
| Publication date | 2023-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economic Development and Cultural Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0079 • E-ISSN: 1539-2988 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/716056 |
| OpenAlex | W3181496716 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 50 |
This paper estimates the causal impact of income on life satisfaction for a broad sample of individuals in a developing country. Using a large and representative panel survey of South African residents, we find that receipt of the Older Person’s Grant—a means-tested cash transfer that is given to residents age 60 and older regardless of labor force status—increases several household-level measures of economic well-being, resulting in a large and significant increase in subjective well-being. Specifically, the average 20% increase in per capita household income due to this grant increases life satisfaction by approximately 0.2 points, a large effect that extends to all members of the household. The discontinuity in the eligibility of the Older Person’s Grant provides a reliable causal estimate of the effect of income on life satisfaction that is larger than ordinary least squares estimates
Cash · Demographic economics · Econometrics · Economics · Life satisfaction · Ordinary least squares · Per capita income · Receipt · Regression discontinuity design · Sample (material) · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Statistics · Demography · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Mathematics · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology
Internal migration and multidimensional wellbeing
The impact of digital economy development on subjective well-being
China’s Happiness in the New Century, 2003–2021
Does Meeting Expectations of Relative Income Improve Well-Being
The labour market effects of cash transfers to the unemployed
Altruistic behavior for environmental conservation and life satisfaction
Changes in Social Assistance Policies and Subjective Well‐Being
Income, Psychological Well-Being, and the Dynamics of Poverty
What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?
Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-Being
Evidence on the Validity of Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Labor Market Data
Grandmothers and Granddaughters
The new stylized facts about income and subjective well-being.
Money and mental wellbeing
Longitudinal Analyses of the Effects of Trade Unions
Inference in Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Discrete Running Variable
Subjective Well-Being and Income
The Short-term Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers to the Poor
Money Does Matter! Evidence from Increasing Real Income and Life Satisfaction in East Germany Following Reunification
Labor Supply Responses to Large Social Transfers
Formulation and estimation of dynamic models using panel data
Estimating Vector Autoregressions with Panel Data
Well-being over time in Britain and the USA
Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data
Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models
Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?
Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models
The Extent of Measurement Error in Longitudinal Earnings Data
Describing and decomposing post-apartheid income inequality in South Africa
Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability
A Robust Test for Weak Instruments
Well-Being over the Life Span
Gross national happiness as an answer to the Easterlin Paradox
Beyond baseline and follow-up
Are poor people credit-constrained or myopic? Evidence from a South African panel
Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables
The Sad Truth about Happiness Scales
What’s Mine is Yours? The Influence of Male and Female Incomes on Patterns of Household Expenditure
Large Cash Transfers to the Elderly in South Africa
Income and Happiness
How Important is Methodology for the Estimates of the Determinants of Happiness
Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle
Education and the Subjective Quality of Life
Health and Social Factors Related to Life Satisfaction
Similarity of the Relations between Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being Across Cultures
Education, Happiness and Wellbeing
| Citations per year | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |