Why income comparison is rational

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wolpert, David H.
• 署名单位: National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); NASA Ames Research Center
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2009.12.001
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 458-474
• 关键词: Social comparison; Hedonic utility; easterlin paradox; U-shaped lifetime curve; Keep up with the Joneses; herding; Income comparison; Search algorithm; decision theory

摘要

A major factor affecting a person's happiness is the gap between their income and their neighbors', independent of their own income. This effect is strongest when the neighbor has moderately higher income. In addition a person's lifetime happiness often follows a U shape. Previous models have explained subsets of these phenomena, typically assuming the person has limited ability to assess their own (hedonic) utility. Here I present a model that explains all the phenomena, without such assumptions. In this model greater income of your neighbor is statistical data that, if carefully analyzed, would recommend that you explore for a new income-generating strategy. This explains unhappiness that your neighbor has greater income, as an emotional prod that induces you to explore, in accord with careful statistical analysis. It explains the U shape of happiness similarly. Another benefit of this model is that it makes many falsifiable predictions. Published by Elsevier Inc.