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Relative deprivation and individual well-being

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  • Xi Chen

    (Yale University, USA, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

People who are unable to maintain the same standard of living as others around them experience a sense of relative deprivation that has been shown to reduce feelings of well-being. Relative deprivation reflects conditions of worsening relative poverty despite striking reductions in absolute poverty. The effects of relative deprivation explain why average happiness has been stagnant over time despite sharp rises in income. Consumption taxes on status-seeking spending, along with official and traditional sanctions on excess consumption and redistributive policies may lessen the negative impact of relative deprivation on well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi Chen, 2015. "Relative deprivation and individual well-being," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 140-140, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:n:140
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    2. Sakketa, T.G., 2018. "Relative Deprivation in Income, Assets, and Social Capital: Motivational and Deterrent Impacts on the Well-Being of Rural Youth," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277116, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 81-94.
    4. Xin Zhang & Xiaobo Zhang & Xi Chen, 2015. "Happiness in the Air: How does a Dirty Sky Affect Subjective Well-Being?," Working Papers id:7598, eSocialSciences.
    5. Karunamuni, Nandini & Imayama, Ikuyo & Goonetilleke, Dharshini, 2021. "Pathways to well-being: Untangling the causal relationships among biopsychosocial variables," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    6. Sakketa Tekalign Gutu & Gerber Nicolas, 2018. "Working Paper 296 - Relative Deprivation and Well-Being of the Rural Youth," Working Paper Series 2423, African Development Bank.
    7. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2019. "Global poverty measurement when relative income matters," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Ravallion,Martin & Chen,Shaohua, 2017. "Welfare-consistent global poverty measures," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8170, The World Bank.
    9. Luca Zanin, 2016. "On Italian Households’ Economic Inadequacy Using Quali-Quantitative Measures," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 59-88, August.
    10. Folk, György, 2019. "Weal: the universal core of human well-being," MPRA Paper 97082, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    relative status; relative poverty; relative deprivation; health; happiness; well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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