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Social Comparison And Subjective Well‐Being: Does The Health Of Others Matter?

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  • Vincenzo Carrieri

Abstract

The importance of social comparison in shaping individual utility has been widely documented by subjective well-being literature. So far, income has been the main dimension considered in social comparison. This paper aims to investigate whether subjective well-being is influenced by inter-personal comparison with respect to health. Thus, we study the effects of the health of others and relative health hypothesis on two measures of subjective well-being: happiness and subjective health. Using data from the Italian Health Conditions survey, we show that a high incidence of chronic conditions and disability among reference groups negatively affects both happiness and subjective health. Such effects are stronger among people in the same conditions. These results, robust to different econometric specifications and estimation techniques, suggest the presence of some sympathy in individual preferences with respect to health and reveal that other people?s health status serves as a benchmark to assess one?s own health conditions.
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Suggested Citation

  • Vincenzo Carrieri, 2012. "Social Comparison And Subjective Well‐Being: Does The Health Of Others Matter?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 31-55, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:64:y:2012:i:1:p:31-55
    DOI: j.1467-8586.2011.00393.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Aitor Calo-Blanco, 2020. "Health and fairness with other-regarding preferences," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 24(3), pages 123-141, December.
    2. Carrieri, Vincenzo & De Paola, Maria, 2012. "Height and subjective well-being in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 289-298.
    3. S. Wouters & N. Exel & M. Donk & K. Rohde & W. Brouwer, 2015. "Do people desire to be healthier than other people? A short note on positional concerns for health," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(1), pages 47-54, January.
    4. Bechetti, Leonardo & Conzo, Pierluigi & Di Febbraro, Mirko, 2015. "Voluntary Work, Health and Subjective Wellbeing: a Resource for Active Ageing," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201511, University of Turin.
    5. Manuela Stranges & Daniele Vignoli & Alessandra Venturini, 2019. "Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy. Does Social Comparison Affect Migrants’ Subjective Well-Being?," Working Papers 201906, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    6. Lorenzo Rocco & Elena Fumagalli & Marc Suhrcke, 2014. "From Social Capital To Health – And Back," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(5), pages 586-605, May.
    7. Vincenzo Carrieri & Maria De Paola, 2011. "The Effects Of Peoples’ Height And Relative Height On Well-Being," Working Papers 201110, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    8. Chantal Herberholz & Nattaya Prapaipanich, 2017. "Conspicuous Consumption Of Online Social Networking Devices And Subjective Well-Being Of Bangkokians," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(05), pages 1371-1395, June.
    9. Vincenzo Carrieri & Vito Peragine, 2014. "Decomposing inequality 'at work': Cross-country evidence from EU-SILC," Working papers 15, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    10. Lars Thiel, 2014. "Illness and Health Satisfaction: The Role of Relative Comparisons," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 695, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    11. Moh Shadiqur Rahman & Novil Dedy Andriatmoko & Moh Saeri & Herman Subagio & Afrizal Malik & Joko Triastono & Renie Oelviani & Juliana C. Kilmanun & Helena da Silva & Marietje Pesireron & Rein Estefanu, 2022. "Climate Disasters and Subjective Well-Being among Urban and Rural Residents in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, March.
    12. Manuela Stranges & Daniele Vignoli & Alessandra Venturini, 2019. ""Comparison is the thief of joy". Does social comparison affect migrants’ subjective well-being?," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2019_03, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    13. Francisco Olivos & Pablo Olivos-Jara & Magdalena Browne, 2021. "Asymmetric Social Comparison and Life Satisfaction in Social Networks," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 363-384, January.
    14. Iliana V. Kohler & Collin F. Payne & Chiwoza Bandawe & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2017. "The Demography of Mental Health Among Mature Adults in a Low-Income, High-HIV-Prevalence Context," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(4), pages 1529-1558, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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