Subjective welfare, isolation, and relative consumption

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fafchamps, Marcel; Shilpi, Forhad
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; The World Bank
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2007.08.004
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 43-60
• 关键词: subjective well-being; relative deprivation; Rivalry

摘要

The recent literature has shown that subjective welfare depends on relative income. Much of the existing evidence comes from developed economics. What remains unclear is whether this is a universal human trait or an artifact of a prosperous, market-oriented lifestyle. Using data from Nepal, a mountainous country where many households still live in relative isolation, we test whether poorer and more isolated households care less about relative consumption. We find that they do not. We investigate possible reasons for this. We reject that it is due to parental concerns regarding the marriage prospects of their children. But we find evidence in support of the reference point hypothesis put forth by psychologists: household heads having migrated out of their birth district still judge the adequacy of their consumption in comparison with households in their district of origin. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.