Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: ABSTRACT The relationship between life satisfaction and income is a key question in the economics of wellbeing. Most literature on the income coefficient in a life satisfaction regression focuses on issues of causal identification or the measurement of life satisfaction. However, the quality of income measures also has a material impact on the estimated relationship between income and life satisfaction. This paper uses administrative and survey data linked at the individual level to explore the impact of income measurement issues on the estimated relationship between income and life satisfaction. The self‐report income measure—collected in income bands—correlates more strongly with life satisfaction than does the more precise employer‐report measure. This relationship does not appear to reflect differences in the scope of income captured by each measure. We explore whether other factors such as respondent personality traits influence the estimated relationship between income and life satisfaction.
Source: Review of Income and Wealth
DOI: 10.1111/roiw.70038
Authors: Conal Smith, Arthur Grimes
Institution: Victoria University of Wellington
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,300
OpenAlex ID: W4414552428