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International inequality in subjective well-being: An exploration with the Gallup World Poll
Pablo Gluzmann,
Leonardo Gasparini,
Pablo Gluzmann
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Leonardo Gasparini
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Correspondence
Leonardo Gasparini, Center for Distributional, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 6, entre 47–48, 3er piso, Oficina 312, (1900) La Plata, Argentina.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorPablo Gluzmann,
Leonardo Gasparini,
Pablo Gluzmann
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Leonardo Gasparini
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Correspondence
Leonardo Gasparini, Center for Distributional, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 6, entre 47–48, 3er piso, Oficina 312, (1900) La Plata, Argentina.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
In this paper we compute inequality measures over the distribution of a subjective well-being variable constructed from a life satisfaction question included in the Gallup World Poll in almost all countries in the world. We argue that inequality in subjective well-being may be a better proxy for the degree of unfairness in a society than income inequality. We find evidence that inequality in subjective well-being has an inverse-U relationship with per capita GDP, but it is monotonically decreasing with respect to mean subjective well-being. We argue that this difference might be associated to inequality aversion in the space of utility.
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