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Reversing the gender gap in happiness

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  • Montgomery, Mallory

Abstract

Life satisfaction surveys are increasingly being used as a measure of welfare (Stiglitz et al., 2009), and even proposed as a primary measure (Layard, 2005). On average worldwide, surveys consistently find that women report higher life satisfaction than men. Yet, women are worse off in many ways: less education, lower incomes, worse self-reported health, and fewer opportunities. Why do they report higher life satisfaction? Using Gallup World Poll survey data from 102 countries including anchoring vignettes, I show that the gap is consistent with women and men systematically using different response scales, and that once these scales have been normalized, women appear less happy than men on average. I find that the effects of other characteristics commonly studied (income, education, marital status, etc.) are at least directionally the same after vignette adjustment, reinforcing previous findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Montgomery, Mallory, 2022. "Reversing the gender gap in happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 65-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:196:y:2022:i:c:p:65-78
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.01.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex, 2022. "Taking the pulse of nations: A biometric measure of well-being," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    2. David Bartram, 2022. "The ‘Gender Life-Satisfaction/Depression Paradox’ Is an Artefact of Inappropriate Control Variables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1061-1072, December.
    3. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "The female happiness paradox," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-27, March.
    4. O'Connor, Kelsey J., 2022. "Measuring Progress," IZA Policy Papers 194, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "Seasonality and the female happiness paradox," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-33, February.
    6. Daniel J. Benjamin & Kristen Cooper & Ori Heffetz & Miles S. Kimball, 2023. "From Happiness Data to Economic Conclusions," NBER Working Papers 31727, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Coniglio, Nicola Daniele & Hoxhaj, Rezart & Lagravinese, Raffaele, 2023. "Crossing Boundaries and Time: An Exploration of Time Allocation, Emotional Well-Being of Immigrants in the United States," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1306, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender gap; Life satisfaction; Happiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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