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Is Happiness Infectious?

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  • John Knight
  • Ramani Gunatilaka

Abstract

The paper uses an appropriate survey from rural China to answer the question: Is happiness infectious, i.e. does the happiness of an individual depend positively on the happiness of their reference group? The evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, but the challenge is to solve the 'reflection problem', i.e. is the apparent effect of neighbours' happiness on own happinessa causal one or merely a reflection? A 'quasi-panel' approach is adopted, treating villages as groups and individuals as multiple observations within each group, and using an error components 2SLS estimator. The results suggest that a major part of the relationship is indeed causal: Adam Smith's insight was correct! The normative and policy implications are briefly considered.

Suggested Citation

  • John Knight & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2009. "Is Happiness Infectious?," Economics Series Working Papers 446, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:446
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Infectious happiness
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2009-09-21 18:59:54

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    Cited by:

    1. Carlsson, Fredrik & Lampi, Elina & Li, Wanxin & Martinsson, Peter, 2014. "Subjective well-being among preadolescents and their parents – Evidence of intergenerational transmission of well-being from urban China," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 11-18.
    2. Knight, John & Gunatilaka, Ramani, 2022. "Income inequality and happiness: Which inequalities matter in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Semih Tumen & Tugba Zeydanli, 2016. "Social interactions in job satisfaction," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(3), pages 426-455, June.
    4. Povey, Richard, 2015. "The welfare economics of infectious happiness," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-3.
    5. Vishal Chandr Jaunky & Jamiil Jeetoo & Shreya Rampersad, 2020. "Happiness and Consumption in Mauritius: An Exploratory Study of Socio-Economic Dimensions, Basic Needs, Luxuries and Personality Traits," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(7), pages 2377-2403, October.
    6. Semih Tumen & Tugba Zeydanli, 2015. "Is Happiness Contagious? Separating Spillover Externalities from the Group-Level Social Context," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 719-744, June.
    7. Sha Fan & Renuka Mahadevan, 2023. "Optimistic income expectations and meeting those expectations: What matters for well‐being in a developing country?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 70(2), pages 115-132, May.
    8. Wen Xin & Russell Smyth, 2010. "Economic Openness and Subjective Well‐being in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 18(2), pages 22-40, March.
    9. John Knight & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2020. "Income inequality and happiness: perceived or actual, widely or narrowly defined, fair or unfair, self- or community-centred inequality?," Economics Series Working Papers 922, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Carlsson, Fredrik & Lampi, Elina & Li, Wanxin & Martinsson, Peter, 2011. "Subjective well-being among preadolescents - Evidence from urban China," Working Papers in Economics 500, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    11. John Knight & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2010. "The Rural-Urban Divide in China: Income but Not Happiness?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 506-534.
    12. Ding Li & Han Xiao & Junsong Ding & Shuang Ma, 2022. "Impact of performance contest on local transformation and development in China: Empirical study of the National Civilized City program," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 559-592, June.
    13. Wenshu Gao & Russell Smyth, 2011. "What keeps China's migrant workers going? Expectations and happiness among China's floating population," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 163-182.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Happiness; Social interaction; Relative deprivation; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers

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