This paper contributes to the growing literature on happiness research by examining whether happiness affects the ethical decisions of individuals. First, a recursive model of ethical decision making is developed in which an agent's utility is assumed to be a function of money, ethical decisions, and happiness, where happiness is defined as the agent's utility obtained at the end of the previous period. Second, the model is tested using data from North American and European respondents in the 1995-1997 wave of the World Values Survey. The findings suggest that happiness affects ethical judgments consistent with the recursive model.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Microeconomics with number
0303004.
Length: 24 pages Date of creation: 12 Mar 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpmi:0303004
Note: Type of Document - Microsoft Word 2000; prepared on IBM PC ; to print on HP; pages: 24; figures: included Contact details of provider: Web page: http://129.3.20.41
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (EconWPA).
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.: