Subjective well-being and social desirability

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Reisinger, James
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104745
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: subjective well-being; DEPRESSION; social desirability bias; survey methods

摘要

Survey measures of depression are increasingly used by economics researchers to provide a nuanced account of well-being. I show that levels of depression reported using such measures are significantly understated and levels of happiness significantly overstated in survey interviews conducted using a response mode that does not allow for anonymous reporting compared to a mode that does in three lon-gitudinal surveys widely used in economics research. I exploit randomized assignment to survey mode, as well as panel methods, to show that this reflects the causal effect of survey mode, not selection. The dif-ference in reported depression and happiness between modes is comparable to the difference between individuals in the 25th and 75th income percentiles. This finding suggests perceptions of social desirabil-ity may substantially bias measures of subjective well-being.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.