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The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness

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Author Info
Stevenson, Betsey () (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
Wolfers, Justin () (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)

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Abstract

By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women’s declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. These declines have continued and a new gender gap is emerging − one with higher subjective well-being for men.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 4200.

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Length: 2009 pages
Date of creation: May 2009
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2009, 1(2), 190–225
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4200

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Related research
Keywords: job satisfaction; women's movement; gender; happiness; life satisfaction; subjective well-being;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
K1 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2007. "Marriage and Divorce: Changes and their Driving Forces," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 27-52, Spring.
    Other versions:
  3. Silvia Pezzini, 2005. "The Effect of Women's Rights on Women's Welfare: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(502), pages C208-C227, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina A.V. Fischer, 2007. "On Gender Inequality and Life Satisfaction: Does Discrimination Matter?," KOF Working papers 07-161, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger, 2006. "Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 3-24, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Stefano Bartolini & Ennio Bilancini & Maurizio Pugno, 2008. "Did the Decline in Social Capital Depress Americans’ Happiness?," Department of Economics University of Siena 540, Department of Economics, University of Siena. [Downloadable!]
  2. Talya Miron-Shatz, 2009. ""Am I going to be happy and financially stable?": How American women feel when they think about financial security," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(1), pages 102-112, February. [Downloadable!]
  3. David G. Blanchflower, 2008. "International evidence on well-being," NBER Working Papers 14318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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