TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Senik, Claudia
        TI  - Direct Evidence on Income Comparisons and their Welfare Effects
        PY  - 2007/Nov/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 3195
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp3195
        AB  - This paper provides unheard direct evidence that comparisons exert a significant effect on subjective well-being. It also evaluates the relative importance of different types of benchmarks. Dynamic comparisons outweigh static ones. Internal benchmarks are more important than external reference groups. Local comparisons (to parents, former colleagues or school classmates) are more powerful than general comparisons such as my rank in the social ladder. The most important impact comes from the deterioration of my living standard and from under-performing my former schoolmates or colleagues. A possible interpretation is that comparisons benchmarks are all the more significant as they are interpreted in terms of seized or lost opportunities.
        KW  - income mobility
KW  - internal and external benchmarks
KW  - subjective well-being
KW  - income comparisons
KW  - transition
        ER  -