TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Fleurbaey, Marc
AU  - Schwandt, Hannes
        TI  - Do People Seek to Maximize Their Subjective Well‐Being?
        PY  - 2015/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 9450
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp9450
        AB  - In a new survey we ask respondents, after a standard Subjective Well-Being (SWB) question, if they can think of changes in their lives that would improve their SWB score. If the SWB score is just one argument among others in the respondents' goals in life, they should easily find ways to improve it, at the expense of other dimensions they care about. Our results suggest that close to 90% of the respondents actually seek to maximize their SWB. The life satisfaction question appears the best contender as the "maximand" in the contest, before the ladder-of-life question and felt happiness. Among the other goals that people pursue and for which they are willing to sacrifice some of their SWB, the prominent appear to be about their relatives and about their future self.
        KW  - subjective well‐being
KW  - life satisfaction
KW  - happiness
KW  - life goals
KW  - utility
        ER  -