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Studies

DiTella et al. (2007): study DE 1984

Publication

Author(s):
DiTella, R.; DeNew, J.P.; MacCulloch, R.J.
Title:
Happiness Adaptation to Income and to Status in an Individual Panel.
Source:
NBER Working Paper 13159, 2007, Cambridge, USA

Investigation

Public
18+ aged general public, (West-)Germany, followed 16 years 1984-2000
Survey name
DE-SOEP combined waves
Sample
Probability multi-stage cluster sample
Respondents
N = 7812
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:

Taking all things together, how satisfied are you with your life these days? Please answer with the help of this scale. For instance, when you are totally satisfied with your life, please tick '10'. When you are totally unsatisfied with your life, please tick '0'. You may use all values in between to indicate that you are neither totally satisfied nor totally unsatisfied."
10 totally satisfied
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0  totally unsatisfied
Classification:
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-d
Page in publication:
9
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 0 - 10 On range 0-10
Mean:
7.15 7.15
SD:
1.75 1.75

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Income Earlier level of income
Change in income level
Household income
Personal income in nation
Status Earlier socio-economic status
'Objective' socio-economic status
Change in socio-economic status
Average income in nation Personal income in nation
Trend average happiness in cities/regions
Trend average happiness in Germany