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Effects of positive attitude on happiness and wage: Evidence from the US data

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  • Mohanty, Madhu S.

Abstract

Using samples from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979), a longitudinal data set from the United States, this study demonstrates that the worker's positive attitude affects his/her wage not only directly, but also indirectly through its effects on happiness. Assuming endogeneity of the positive attitude variable and estimating happiness and attitude equations simultaneously by a two-step procedure, the study further finds the evidence that happiness also affects the worker's earnings both directly and indirectly. These findings suggest that any attempt to raise workers' earnings potentials should focus not only on the development of their human capital endowments, but also on improvement of their attitudes.

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  • Mohanty, Madhu S., 2009. "Effects of positive attitude on happiness and wage: Evidence from the US data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 884-897, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:30:y:2009:i:6:p:884-897
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    Cited by:

    1. Vinod Mishra & Russell Smyth, 2012. "It Pays to Be Happy (If You are a Man): Subjective Wellbeing and the Gender Wage Gap in Urban China," Monash Economics Working Papers 51-12, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Wim Naudé & José Ernesto Amorós & Oscar Cristi, 2011. "‘Surfeiting, The Appetite May Sicken’: Entrepreneurship and the Happiness of Nations," Working Papers 2011/07, Maastricht School of Management.
    3. Kelsey J. O'Connor, 2020. "Life Satisfaction and Noncognitive Skills: Effects on the Likelihood of Unemployment," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(4), pages 568-604, November.
    4. Madhu S. Mohanty, 2019. "Role of psychological variables in the determination of the worker's wage: Further evidence from the United States," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 54-77, March.
    5. Mohanty, Madhu S. & Ullah, Aman, 2012. "Direct and indirect effects of happiness on wage: A simultaneous equations approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 143-152.
    6. Mohanty, Madhu Sudan, 2012. "Effects of positive attitude and optimism on wage and employment: A double selection approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 304-316.
    7. Marta Lachowska, 2017. "Outside options and wages: What can we learn from subjective assessments?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 79-121, February.
    8. Zhen Cui, 2018. "Happiness and consumption: evidence from China," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 65(4), pages 403-419, December.
    9. Ajayi,Kehinde & Das,Smita & Delavallade,Clara Anne & Ketema,Tigist Assefa & Rouanet,Lea Marie, 2022. "Gender Differences in Socio-Emotional Skills and Economic Outcomes : New Evidencefrom 17 African Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10197, The World Bank.
    10. Madhu S. Mohanty, 2018. "Does Positive Attitude Matter Only for Older Workers? Evidence from Simultaneous Estimation of Job Satisfaction, Wage and Positive Attitude in the United States," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(8), pages 2373-2404, December.
    11. Miguel Lopes & Patricia Palma & Miguel e Cunha, 2011. "Tolerance is Not Enough: The Moderating Role of Optimism on Perceptions of Regional Economic Performance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 333-350, June.
    12. Bidisha Chakraborty & Souparna Maji & Anamika Sen & Isha Mallik & Sayantan Baidya & Esha Dwibedi, 2019. "A Study on Happiness and Related Factors Among Indian College Students," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(1), pages 215-236, March.
    13. Ertan Yörük, Ceren & Yörük, Barış K., 2012. "The impact of drinking on psychological well-being: Evidence from minimum drinking age laws in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1844-1854.
    14. Yuna Ma & Jiafeng Gu & Ruixi Lv, 2022. "Job Satisfaction and Alcohol Consumption: Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-15, January.
    15. Xiang-Nan Feng & Hao-Tian Wu & Xin-Yuan Song, 2017. "Bayesian Adaptive Lasso for Ordinal Regression With Latent Variables," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 46(4), pages 926-953, November.
    16. Madhu S. Mohanty, 2016. "Effect of religious attendance on years of schooling in the USA," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 411-426, August.
    17. Nazgol Makki & Madhu S. Mohanty, 2019. "Mental Health and Happiness: Evidence From the U.S. Data," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 64(2), pages 197-215, October.
    18. Wim Naudé & José Amorós & Oscar Cristi, 2014. "“Surfeiting, the appetite may sicken”: entrepreneurship and happiness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 523-540, March.

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