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What Can Happiness Research Tell Us About Altruism? Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

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  • Schwarze, Johannes

    (University of Bamberg)

  • Winkelmann, Rainer

    () (University of Zurich)

Abstract

Much progress has been made in recent years on developing and applying a direct measure of utility using survey questions on subjective well-being. In this paper we explore whether this new type of measurement can be fruitfully applied to the study of interdependent utility in general, and altruism between parents and children in particular. We introduce an appropriate econometric methodology and, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 2000-2002, find that the parents’ self-reported happiness depends positively, albeit not very strongly, on the happiness of adult children who moved out.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1487.

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Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2005
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2011, 24 (3), 1033-1051
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1487

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Keywords: fixed effects; extended family; utility function; ordered probit;

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References

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  1. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "A Theory of Social Interactions," NBER Working Papers 0042, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2000. "Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USA," NBER Working Papers 7487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2001. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," CESifo Working Paper Series 503, CESifo Group Munich.
  4. Alois Stutzer & Bruno S. Frey, . "Does Marriage Make People Happy, Or Do Happy People Get Married?," IEW - Working Papers 143, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
  5. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-59, May.
  6. Mundlak, Yair, 1978. "On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 69-85, January.
  7. Christian Dustmann, 2004. "Parental background, secondary school track choice, and wages," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 209-230, April.
  8. Altonji, Joseph G & Hayashi, Fumio & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1992. "Is the Extended Family Altruistically Linked? Direct Tests Using Micro Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1177-98, December.
  9. Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, 2005. "Exploring the economic and social determinants of psychological well-being and perceived social support in England," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(3), pages 513-537.
  10. Paul Frijters & John P. Haisken-DeNew & Michael A. Shields, 2004. "Money Does Matter! Evidence from Increasing Real Income and Life Satisfaction in East Germany Following Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 730-740, June.
  11. Winkelmann, Rainer, 2004. "Subjective Well-Being and the Family: Results from an Ordered Probit Model with Multiple Random Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 1016, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  12. Becker, Gary S, 1981. "Altruism in the Family and Selfishness in the Market Place," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 48(189), pages 1-15, February.
  13. Terza, Joseph V., 1987. "Estimating linear models with ordinal qualitative regressors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 275-291, March.
  14. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher, 2004. "The nature of human altruism," Experimental 0402003, EconWPA.
  15. Phelps, Charlotte D., 2001. "A clue to the paradox of happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 293-300, July.
  16. Peter Egger & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2002. "Long Run and Short Effects in Static Panel Models," 10th International Conference on Panel Data, Berlin, July 5-6, 2002 B6-2, International Conferences on Panel Data.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Martin Spieß & Martin Kroh & Rainer Pischner & Gert G. Wagner, 2008. "On the Treatment of Non-Original Sample Members in the German Household Panel Study (SOEP): Tracing, Weighting, and Frequencies," Data Documentation 30, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  2. Dennis Gaertner, 2007. "Monopolistic Screening under Learning By Doing," Working Papers 0718, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  3. Rainer Winkelmann, 2009. "Unemployment, Social Capital, and Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 421-430, August.
  4. Adrian Bruhin, 2008. "Stochastic Expected Utility and Prospect Theory in a Horse Race: A Finite Mixture Approach," Working Papers 0803, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  5. Johannes Schoder & Peter Zweifel, 2008. "Managed Care Konzepte und Lösungsansätze– Ein internationaler Vergleich aus schweizerischer Sicht," Working Papers 0801, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  6. Sandra Hanslin, 2008. "The effect of trade openness on optimal government size under endogenous firm entry," Working Papers 0802, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  7. Inmaculada García & José Molina & María Navarro, 2007. "How Satisfied are Spouses with their Leisure Time? Evidence from Europe," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 546-565, December.
  8. Ana Fernandes, 2011. "Altruism, labor supply and redistributive neutrality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1443-1469, October.
  9. Jose Alberto Molina & Maria Navarro & Ian Walker, 2007. "Mums and their sons; Dads and their daughters: Panel Data Evidence of Parental Altruism across 14 EU Countries," Working Papers 200721, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
  10. Molina, José Alberto & Navarro Paniagua, Maria & Walker, Ian, 2007. "Mums and Their Sons, Dads and Their Daughters: Panel Data Evidence of Interdependent Marginal Utilities across 14 EU Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 2734, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  11. Mauricio Cárdenas & Carolina Mejía & Vincenzo Di Maro, 2008. "Education and life satisfaction: perception or reality?," WORKING PAPERS SERIES. DOCUMENTOS DE TRABAJO 009188, FEDESARROLLO.
  12. Haizhen Mou & Stanley L. Winer, 2012. "Fiscal Incidence when both Individual Welfare and Family Structure Matter: The Case of Subsidization of Home-Care for the Elderly," CESifo Working Paper Series 3731, CESifo Group Munich.
  13. Dennis Gaertner, 2007. "Why Bayes Rules: A Note on Bayesian vs. Classical Inference in Regime Switching Models," Working Papers 0719, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  14. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2007:i:10:p:1-5 is not listed on IDEAS

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