Do Danes and Italians Rate Life Satisfaction in the Same Way? Using Vignettes to Correct for Individual-Specific Scale Biases

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Do Danes and Italians Rate Life Satisfaction in the Same Way? Using Vignettes to Correct for Individual-Specific Scale Biases

Author Info

Viola Angelini () (University of Padua)
Danilo CAVAPOZZI () (University of Padua)
Luca CORAZZINI () (University of Padua)
Omar PACCAGNELLA () (University of Padua)

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Abstract

Self-reported life satisfaction is highly heterogeneous across similar countries. We show that this phenomenon can be largely explained by the fact that individuals adopt different scales and benchmarks in evaluating themselves. Using a cross sectional dataset on individuals aged 50 and over in ten European countries, we compare estimates from an Ordered Probit in which life satisfaction scales are invariant across respondents with those from a Hopit model in which vignettes are used to correct for individual-specific scale biases. We find that variations in response scales explain a large part of the differences found in raw data. Moreover, the crosscountry ranking in life satisfaction dramatically depends on scale biases.

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Paper provided by Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno" in its series "Marco Fanno" Working Papers with number 0090.

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Length: 32 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pad:wpaper:0090

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Paper
- Viola Angelini, Danilo Cavapozzi, Luca Corazzini, Omar Paccagnella., . "Do Danes and Italians Rate Life Satisfaction in the Same Way? Using Vignettes to Correct for Individual-Specific Scale Biases," ISLA Working Papers 31, ISLA, Centre for research on Latin American Studies and Transition Economies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy. [Downloadable!]

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2009-02-14 (All new papers)
NEP-EEC-2009-02-14 (European Economics)

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.:

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Other versions:
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Other versions:
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Full references

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.)

Andrew E. Clark & Yarine Fawaz, 2009. "Valuing jobs via retirement: European evidence," PSE Working Papers 2009-18, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]

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