A Simple Statistical Method for Measuring how Life Events Affect Happiness
Author(s)
Clark, Andrew E.; Oswald, Andrew J.
Abstract
The paper calculates the impact of different life events upon human well-being. Getting married, for instance, is calculated to bring each year the same amount of happiness, on average, as having an extra 70,000 pounds on income per annum. The psychological cost of losing a job greatly exceed those from the pure drop in income. Health is hugely important to happiness. Widowhood brings a degree of unhappiness that would take, on average, an extra 170,000 pounds per annum to offset. Well-being regressions also allow us to assess one of the oldest conjectures in social science – that well-being depends not just on absolute things but inherently on comparisons with other people. We find evidence for comparison effects.
