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Inequality and Happiness: Are Europeans and Americans Different?

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Author Info
Alesina, Alberto F
Di Tella, Rafael
MacCulloch, Robert

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Abstract

The answer to the question posed in the title is ‘yes’. Using a total of 128,106 answers to a survey question about ‘happiness’, we find that there is a large, negative and significant effect of inequality on happiness in Europe but not in the US. There are two potential explanations. First, Europeans prefer more equal societies (inequality belongs in the utility function for Europeans but not for Americans). Second, social mobility is (or is perceived to be) higher in the US so being poor is not seen as affecting future income. We test these hypotheses by partitioning the sample across income and ideological lines. There is evidence of ‘inequality generated’ unhappiness in the US only for a sub-group of rich leftists. In Europe inequality makes the poor unhappy, as well as the leftists. This favors the hypothesis that inequality affects European happiness because of their lower social mobility (since no preference for equality exists amongst the rich or the right). The results help explain the greater popular demand for government to fight inequality in Europe relative to the US.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 2877.

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Date of creation: Jul 2001
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:2877

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Related research
Keywords: happiness; inequality; redistribution;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends and Forecasts
N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth - - - Europe: Pre-1913
N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth - - - Europe: 1913-

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