Easterlin (2001): study US 1994

Publication

Author(s):

Easterlin, R.A.

Title:

Income and Happiness: Towards a Unified Theory.

Source:

The Economic Journal, 2001, Vol. 111, 465 - 484

Investigation

Public

Adults, general public, USA, 1994

Sample

Probability simple random sample

Respondents

N = 2627

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

Observed distribution

Frequencies

1: 12%,   2: 60%,   3: 28%   (total 100%)

Summary Statistics

On original range 1 - 3 On range 0-10

Mean:

2.16 7.12

SD:

0.61 1.59

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Household Income Household income Life cycle Stage of life
Current age (in years)
Current income level (unspecified) Level of Education Stage of life
Current age (in years)
Earlier educational level
Level of school-education
Trend average happiness in educational groups