print

Studies

Gruber & Mullainathan (2006): study CA 1985

Publication

Author(s):
Gruber, J.; Mullainathan, S.
Title:
Do Cigarette Taxes Make Smokers Happier?
Source:
Ng, Y.K.;Ho, S.L.;Eds.: ''Happiness and Public Policy'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, UK, 109 - 146

Investigation

Public
+15 aged, general public, Canada, 1985-1998
Survey name
CN-GSS pooled waves
Sample
Probability multistage stratified area sample
Respondents
N = 100663
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question

In general, how happy would you say you are these days?
1  very unhappy
2  somewhat unhappy
3  somewhat happy
4 very happy
Classification:
O-HL-c-sq-v-4-j
Author's label:
Happiness
Remarks:
Percent "Very unhappy" and "somewhat unhappy" were not reported separately  by the authors, but as a combination amounting to 5%. WDH team assumed 2% and 3% respectively in order to compute transformed scores
Page in publication:
124
Observed distribution
Frequencies
1: 2%,   2: 3%,   3: 34%,   4: 59%   (total 98%)
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 4 On range 0-10
Mean:
3.53 7.80
SD:
0.66 2.04

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Cigarette tax rate Medical treatment
Raise tobacco tax in nation
Marital status Married state (compared to non-married states)
Widowed
Divorced or separated
Education Level of school-education
School dropout
Household income quartile Household income Personal income quartile Personal income Household size Number of persons in household Unemployment rate Unemployment in nation
Change unemployment rate in nation
Church attendance Participation in church Foreign born Foreign born Housing type Type of current dwelling Dwelling ownership Ownership of current dwelling Language spoken Ethnic status in Canada
Current language