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Delay and Deservingness after Winning the Lottery

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew J. Oswald

    (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)

  • Rainer Winkelmann

    (Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich)

Abstract

Economics rests upon a set of presumptions about how human beings are affected by income. Yet causal evidence is scant. This paper reports a longitudinal study of randomly selected lottery winners. Remarkably, we show that it takes almost three years before they enjoy their money. We develop a model of dissonance and deservingness. We argue that, despite the tradition of economics, human beings may weight differently the different kinds of income that accrue to them. If so, it is not sufficient to describe utility by a function u(y), and it is not true that �a dollar is a dollar�.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew J. Oswald & Rainer Winkelmann, 2008. "Delay and Deservingness after Winning the Lottery," SOI - Working Papers 0815, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.
  • Handle: RePEc:soz:wpaper:0815
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    File URL: https://www.econ.uzh.ch/apps/workingpapers/wp/wp0815.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ilja Neustadt & Peter Zweifel, 2009. "Economic Well-Being, Social Mobility, and Preferences for Income Redistribution: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment," SOI - Working Papers 0909, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich, revised Jan 2010.
    2. Benedicte Apouey & Andrew E. Clark, 2015. "Winning Big but Feeling no Better? The Effect of Lottery Prizes on Physical and Mental Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(5), pages 516-538, May.
    3. Polk, Andreas & Schmutzler, Armin & Müller, Adrian, 2014. "Lobbying and the power of multinational firms," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 209-227.
    4. Michele Sennhauser, 2009. "Why the Linear Utility Function is a Risky Choice in Discrete-Choice Experiments," SOI - Working Papers 1014, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.
    5. Maurus Rischatsch, 2009. "Simulating WTP Values from Random-Coefficient Models," SOI - Working Papers 0912, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.
    6. Liliana Winkelmann & Rainer Winkelmann, 2010. "Does Inequality Harm the Middle Class?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 301-316, May.
    7. Maurus Rischatsch & Maria Trottmann, 2009. "Physician dispensing and the choice between generic and brand-name drugs – Do margins affect choice?," SOI - Working Papers 0911, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    well-being; lottery income; deservingness; cognitive dissonance; happiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

    NEP fields

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