Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being and its Many  Dimensions – Implications for Data Collection in Official Statistics and for  Policy Relevance

Christopher Mackie; Conal  Smith

doi:https://doi.org/10.59170/stattrans-2015-019

Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being and its Many Dimensions – Implications for Data Collection in Official Statistics and for Policy Relevance

Christopher Mackie Committee on National Statistics, National Academies – Washington, DC. , Conal Smith Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Paris. Statistics in Transition new series, vol. 16, 2015, 3, pages: 335-372 Published online: 1 September 2015 https://doi.org/10.59170/stattrans-2015-019

141 Views 10 Downloads

ARTICLE

(English) PDF

ABSTRACT

Subjective well-being encompasses several distinct but interacting aspects of people’s feelings, attitudes, and experiences. This paper assesses the state of the art for measuring these dimensions of people's lives, which typically involves analyzing self-reports of subjective well-being collected in survey instruments; however, other potentially complementary, technology-driven tools are emerging as well. We first answer the question, “what is subjective well-being?” and unpack its multidimensionality. The role of national statistics offices in measuring subjective well-being and deriving official statistics is considered next. We conclude by discussing how different characteristics of well-being constructs shape their applicability to policy. The overarching conclusion is that–while methodological limitations are present and a number of fundamental research challenges remain–understanding of how to collect and interpret data on subjective well-being has made enormous strides in the last two decades, and policies for a wide range of domains are beginning to be usefully informed.

KEYWORDS

subjective well-being, national statistics, policy

REFERENCES

BARTRAM, D., (2010). Economic migration and happiness: Comparing immigrants’ and natives. Happiness gains from income. Social Indicators Research 103(1): 57-76.

BENJAMIN, D., KIMBALL, M., HEFFETZ, O., REES-JONES, A., (2013). Can Marginal Rates of Substitution be Inferred from Happiness Data? Evidence from Resiency Choices, NBER Working Paper 18927.

BOARINI, R., COMOLA, M., SMITH, C., MANCHIN, R., DE KEULENAER, F., (2012). What Makes for a Better Life? The determinants of subjective well-being in OECD countries: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll. STD/DOC(2012) 3, OECD.

BRADBURN, N., (1969). The Structure of Psychological Well-being. Chicago: Aldine.

CHRISTODOULOU, C., SCHNEIDER, S., STONE, A. A., (2013). Validation of a brief yesterday measure of hedonic well-being and daily activities: Comparison with the Day Reconstruction Method. Social Indicators Research.

CLARK, A. E., (2001). What really matters in a job? Hedonic measurement using quit data. Labour Economics 8: 223-242.

CLARK, A. E., OSWALD, A. J., (2002). A simple statistical method for measuring how life events affect happiness. International Journal of Epidemiology 31: 1139-1144.

CLARK, A. E., SENIK, C., (2011). Is Happiness Different from Flourishing? Cross-country Evidence from the ESS. Working Paper 2011-04, Paris, School of Economics.

CLARK, A. E., FRIJTERS, P., SHIELDS, M., (2008). Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the Easterlin paradox and other puzzles. Journal of Economic Literature 46(1): 95-144.

DEATON, A., (2010). Income, aging, health, and well-being around the world: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll. In Research Findings in the Economics of Aging, D. A. Wise (ed.), pp. 235-263. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

DEATON, A., (2012). The financial crisis and the well-being of Americans. Oxford Economic Papers 64(1): 1-26.

DECI, E., RYAN, R., (2006). Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies 9: 1-11.

DI TELLA, R., MACCULLOCH, R., OSWALD, A. J., (2001). Preferences over inflation and unemployment: Evidence from surveys of happiness. The American Economic Review 91(1): 335-341.

DI TELLA, R., MACCULLOCH, R., OSWALD, A. J., (2003). The Macroeconomics of Happiness. The Review of Economics and Statistics 85(4): 809-827.

DIENER, E., (2006). Guidelines for national indicators of subjective well-being and ill-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life 1(2): 151-157.

DIENER, E., (2011). The Validity of Life Satisfaction Measures. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

DIENER, E., CHAN, M., (2010). Happier People Live Longer: Subjective Well Being Contributes to Health and Longevity. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

DIENER, E., PAVOT, W., (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment 52(2): 164-172.

DIENER, E., HELLIWELL, J. F., KAHNEMAN, D. (eds.), (2010). International Differences in Well-Being. Oxford University Press.

DIENER, E., LUCAS, R. E., NAPA SCOLLON, C., (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist 61(4): 305-314.

DIENER, E., LUCAS, R. E., SCHIMMACK, U., HELLIWELL, J. (eds.), (2009). Well-Being for Public Policy. Oxford University Press.

DIENER, E., SUH, E. M., LUCAS, R. E., SMITH, H. L., (1999). Subjective well being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin 125(2): 276-302.

DIENER, E., KAHNEMAN, D., TOV, W., ARORA, R., HARTER, J., (2009). Income’s differential influence on judgments of life versus affective well being. In Assessing Well-Being, E. Diener (ed.), pp. 233-246. Oxford, UK: Springer.

DOLAN, P., KAVETSOS, G., (2012). Happy Talk: Mode of Administration Effects on Subjective Well-Being (CEP discussion paper, no. 1159). London, UK: Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science.

DOLAN, P., METCALFE, R., (2011). Comparing Measures of Subjective Well Being and Views About the Role They Should Play in Policy. London, UK: Office for National Statistics.

DOLAN, P., PEASGOOD, T., (2006). Valuing non-market goods: Does subjective well-being offer a viable alternative to contingent valuation. Imperial College Working Paper. Imperial College, London.

DOLAN, P., WHITE, M., (2007). How can measures of subjective well-being be used to inform policy? Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2(1): 71-85.

DOLAN, P., LAYARD, R., METCALFE, R., (2011). Measuring Subjective Well-being for Public Policy. Office for National Statistics, UK.

DOLAN, P., PEASGOOD, T., WHITE, M., (2008). Do we really know what makes us happy? A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology 29: 94-122.

EASTERLIN, R., (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honour of Moses Abramovitz. P.A. David, and M.W. Reder (eds.), pp. 89-125. New York, Academic Press Inc.

FERRER-I-CARBONELL, A., FRIJTERS, P., (2004). How important is methodology for estimates of the determinants of happiness? The Economic Journal 114: 641-659.

FREY, B. S., STUTZER, A., (2002). What can economists learn from happiness research? Journal of Economic Literature 40(2): 402-435.

FREY, B. S., STUTZER, A., (2008). Stress that doesn’t pay: The commuting paradox. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 110(2): 339-366.

FRIJTERS, P., (2000). Do individuals try to maximize general satisfaction? Journal of Economic Psychology 21: 281-304.

FUJIWARA, D., CAMPBELL, R., (2011, July). Valuation techniques for social cost-benefit analysis: Stated preference, revealed preference, and subjective well-being approaches, a discussion of the current issues. United Kingdom: HM Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions.

GERE, J., SCHIMMACK, U., (2011). A multi-occasion multi-rater model of affective dispositions and affective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies 12(6): 931-945.

GRAHAM, C., (2011). The Pursuit of Happiness: An Economy of Well-Being. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution Press.

HALPERN, D., (2010). The Hidden Wealth of Nations. Cambridge: Polity Press.

HELLIWELL, J. F., BARRINGTON-LEIGH, C. P., (2010). Measuring and Understanding Subjective Well-being. NBER Working Paper, No. 15887, National Bureau of Economic Research.

HELLIWELL, J. F., WANG, S., (2011). Trust and well-being. International Journal of Well-being 1(1): 42-78.

HELLIWELL, J. F., LAYARD, R., SACHS, J. D., (2013). The World happiness Report. The Earth Institute, Columbia University.

HUPPERT, F. A., SO, T. T. C., (2009). What Percentage of People in Europe are Flourishing and What Characterises Them? Well-Being Institute, University of Cambridge, mimeo prepared for the OECD/ISQOLS meeting on Measuring subjective well-being: An opportunity for NSOs? Florence, 23/24 July.

HUPPERT, F.A., MARKS, N., CLARK, A., SIEGRIST, J., STUTZER, A., VITTERSO, J., WAHRENDORF, W., (2009). Measuring well-being across Europe: Description of the ESS well-being module and preliminary findings. Social Indicators Research 91: 301-315.

KAHNEMAN, D., DEATON, A., (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107(38): 16489-16493.

KAHNEMAN, D., KRUEGER, A. B., (2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(1): 3-24.

KAHNEMAN, D., DIENER, E., SCHWARZ, N., (1999). Well-being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.

KAHNEMAN, D., KRUEGER, A. B., SCHKADE, D., SCHWARZ, N., STONE, A .A., (2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM). Science 306(5702): 1776-1780.

KAHNEMAN, D., KRUEGER, A. B., SCHKADE, D., SCHWARZ, N., STONE, A. A., (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion. Science 312(5782): 1908-1910.

KRUEGER, A.B., MUELLER, A., (2012). Time use, emotional well-being, and unemployment: Evidence from longitudinal data. American Economic Review 102(3): 594-599.

KRUEGER, A. B., SCHKADE, D., (2008). The reliability of subjective well being measures. Journal of Public Economics 92(8-9): 1833-1845.

KRUEGER, A. B., STONE, A. A., (2008). Assessment of pain: A community based diary survey in the USA. Lancet 371(9623): 1519-1525.

KRUEGER, A.B., KAHNEMAN, D., SCHKADE, D., SCHWARZ, N., STONE, A. A., (2009). National time accounting: The currency of life. In Measuring the Subjective Well-Being of Nations: National Accounts of Time Use and Well-Being, A. B. Krueger (ed.), pp. 9-86. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

LUCAS, R., (2007). “Long-Term Disability Is Associated With Lasting Changes in Subjective Well-Being: Evidence From Two nationally Representative Longitudinal Studies.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 92, (4), pp. 717-730.

LUCAS, R. A., CLARK, Y., GEORGELLIS, E., DIENER, (2004). “Unemployment alters the set point for life satisfaction”, Psychological Science, 15, pp. 8-13. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, (2013). Subjective Well-Being: Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience. Panel on Measuring Subjective Well-Being in a Policy-Relevant Framework. A.A. Stone and C. Mackie, Editors. Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION, (2009). National Accounts of Well-being.

OECD, (2011). How’s Life? Measuring Well-Being. Paris, OECD Publishing.

OECD, (2013). OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being. Paris:

OECD. Available: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/Guidelines%20on%20Measuring%20Subjective %20Well-being.pdf.

ONS, (2011). Initial Investigation into Subjective Well-being from the Opinions Survey.

OSWALD, A. J., WU, S., (2009). Well-Being Across America: Evidence from a Random Sample of One Million U.S. Citizens. Unpublished manuscript, University of Warwick, UK. Presented at the IZA Prize Conference, October 22, Washington, DC.

PAVOT, W., DIENER, E., COLVIN, C.R., SANDVIK, E., (1991). Further validation of the satisfaction with life scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment 57(1): 149-161.

RAYO, L., BECKER, G. S., (2007). Evolutionary efficiency and happiness. Journal of Political Economy 115(2): 302-337.

ROBINSON, M. D., CLORE, G. L., (2002). Belief and feeling: Evidence for an accessibility model of emotional self-report. Psychological Bulletin 128(6):934-960.

SAMPSON, R.J., GRAIF, C., (2009). Neighborhood social capital as differential social organization: Resident and leadership dimensions. American Behavioral Scientist 52(11): 1579-1605.

SCHULLER, T., WADSWORTH, M., BYNNER, J., GOLDSTEIN, H., (2012). The Measurement of Well-being: The Contribution of Longitudinal Studies. Report prepared for the Office for National Statistics. London. UK: Longview. Available: http://www.longviewuk.com/pages/ documents/Longviewwellbeingreport.pdf.

SCHWARZ, N., STRACK, F., (1999). Reports of subjective well-being: Judgmental processes and their methodological implications. In Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, D. Kahneman, E. Diener, and N. Schwarz (eds.), pp. 61-84. New York: Russell-Sage.

SMITH, T. W., (2005). Troubles in America: A Study of Negative Life Events Across Time and Sub-Groups (Russell Sage Foundation Working Paper Series).

STEVENSON, B., WOLFERS, J., (2013). Subjective well-being and income: Is there any evidence of satiation? American Economic Review 103(3): 598-604.

STEWART-BROWN, S., JANMOHAMED, K., (2008). Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). User Guide Version 1. Warwick and Edinburgh: University of Warwick and NHS Health Scotland.

STIGLITZ, J., SEN, A., FITOUSSI, J. P., (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Available: http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf.

TENNANT, R., HILLER, L., FISHWICK, R., PLATT, S., JOSEPH, S., WEICH, S., PARKINSON, J., SECKER, J., STEWART-BROWN, S., (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 5(63).

THOITS, P., (1983). Multiple identities and psychological well-being. American Sociological Review 48(2): 174-182.

THOMPSON, S., MARKS, N., (2008). Measuring Well-being in Policy: Issues and Applications. New Economics Foundation.

WHITE, M. P., DOLAN, P., (2009). Accounting for the richness of daily activities. Psychological Science 20(8): 1000-1008.

WILSON, T. D., GILBERT, D. T., (2006). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Current Directions in Psychological Science 14(3): 131-134.

WILSON, T. D., WHEATLEY, T., MEYERS, J. M., GILBERT, D. T., AXSOM, D., (2000). Focalism: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78(5): 821-836