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Happy Peasants and Frustrated Achievers? Agency, Capabilities, and Subjective Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Carol Graham

    (The Brookings Institution)

  • Milena Nikolova

    (University of Maryland, College Park)

Abstract

We explore the relationship between agency and hedonic and evaluative dimensions of well-being, using data from the Gallup World Poll. We posit that individuals emphasize one well-being dimension over the other, depending on their agency. We test four hypotheses including whether: (i) positive levels of well-being in one dimension coexist with negative ones in another; and (ii) individuals place a different value on agency depending on their positions in the well-being and income distributions. We find that: (i) agency is more important to the evaluative well-being of respondents with more means; (ii) negative levels of hedonic well-being coexist with positive levels of evaluative well-being as people acquire agency; and (iii) both income and agency are less important to well-being at highest levels of the well-being distribution. We hope to contribute insight into one of the most complex and important components of well-being, namely, people's capacity to pursue fulfilling lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Carol Graham & Milena Nikolova, 2013. "Happy Peasants and Frustrated Achievers? Agency, Capabilities, and Subjective Well-Being," Working Papers 2013-013, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2013-013
    Note: MIP
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    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Graham_Nikolova_2013_happy-peasants.pdf
    File Function: First version, April 2013
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2005. "Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 1-19, February.
    2. De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel & Oswald, Andrew J., 2012. "Estimating the influence of life satisfaction and positive affect on later income using sibling fixed-effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51523, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Cited by:

    1. Milena Nikolova & Carol Graham, 2014. "Employment, late-life work, retirement, and well-being in Europe and the United States," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-30, December.
    2. Pedro Mateu & Enrique Vásquez & Javier Zúñiga & Franklin Ibáñez, 2020. "Happiness and poverty in the very poor Peru: measurement improvements and a consistent relationship," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1075-1094, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    agency; capabilities; subjective well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O5 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies

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