On the Common Claim that Happiness Equations Demonstrate Diminishing Marginal Utility of Income

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On the Common Claim that Happiness Equations Demonstrate Diminishing Marginal Utility of Income

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Andrew J. Oswald () (University of Warwick and IZA Bonn)

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Andrew J. Oswald

Abstract

It is commonly claimed in the recent happiness literature in psychology and economics that we have proved diminishing marginal utility of income. This paper suggests that we have not. It draws a distinction between concavity of the utility function and concavity of the reporting function.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1781.

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Length: 7 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1781

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty
D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2005-10-22 (All new papers)
NEP-EVO-2005-10-22 (Evolutionary Economics)

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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. [Downloadable!]
Maarten Vendrik & Geert Woltjer, 2006. "Happiness and Loss Aversion: When Social Participation Dominates Comparison," IZA Discussion Papers 2218, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Vendrik, Maarten & Woltjer, Geert, 2006. "Happiness and Loss Aversion: When Social Participation Dominates Comparision," Research Memoranda 027, Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization. [Downloadable!]
José Alberto Molina & María Navarro & Ian Walker, 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). [Downloadable!]
Grigorieva, Elena & Strobel, Martin, 2006. "Bidding behavior in the bisection auction – an experimental investigation," Research Memoranda 026, Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization. [Downloadable!]
Andrew J. Oswald & Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2006. "Does Happiness Adapt? A Longitudinal Study of Disability with Implications for Economists and Judges," IZA Discussion Papers 2208, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Oswald, Andrew J. & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2008. "Does happiness adapt? A longitudinal study of disability with implications for economists and judges," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1061-1077, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Richard Layard & Guy Mayraz & Stephen Nickell, 2007. "The Marginal Utility of Income," CEP Discussion Papers dp0784, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Richard Layard & Guy Mayraz & Stephen J. Nickell, 2007. "The Marginal Utility of Income," SOEPpapers 50, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
- Layard, R. & Mayraz, G. & Nickell, S., 2008. "The marginal utility of income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(8-9), pages 1846-1857, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew J., 2006. "Money and Mental Wellbeing : A Longitudinal Study of Medium-Sized Lottery Wins," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 754, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Jonathan Gardner & Andrew J. Oswald, 2006. "Money and Mental Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study of Medium-Sized Lottery Wins," IZA Discussion Papers 2233, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
- Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Money and mental wellbeing: A longitudinal study of medium-sized lottery wins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-60, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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