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Studies

Easterlin (1974): study US 1946 /1

Publication

Author(s):
Easterlin, R.A.
Title:
Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence.
Source:
David, P.A.;Melvin, W.R.;Eds.: "Nations and Households in Economic Growth", Academic Press, 1974, New York, USA, 89 - 125.

Investigation

Public
Adults, general public, USA, 1946-1970
Sample
Probability simple random sample
Respondents
N = 29143
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:

Taken all together, how would you say things are these days?   Would you say that you are....?
3  very happy
2  pretty happy
1  not too happy
Classification:
O-HL-c-sq-v-3-aa
Author's label:
Happiness
Remarks:
Average 12 surveys in the period 1946-1965
Page in publication:
100, 109
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 3 On range 0-10
Mean:
2.34 6.71
SD:
0.02 0.09
Full text:
Self report on single question:

In general, how happy would you say you are ?
3  very happy
2  fairly happy
1  not at all happy
Classification:
O-HL-g-sq-v-3-a
Full text:
Self report on single question:

In general, how happy would you say you are ?
3  very happy
2  fairly happy
1  not happy
Classification:
O-HL-g-sq-v-3-I

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding AIPO Polls Time Series ERA (temporal period) NORC Polls Time Series Trend average happiness in Unites States of America