Subjective and objective well-being in relation to economic inputs: Puzzles and responses

Abstract

Systematic, large discrepancies exist between direct measures of well-being & the measures that economists largely concentrate on, notably income. The paper assesses & rejects claims that income is 2710 satisfactorily correlated with well-being, & addresses the implications of discrepancies between income measures & measures of subjective well-being (SWB) & objective well-being (OWB) & also between subjective & objective well-being measures themselves. It discusses a range of possible responses to the discrepancies: for example, examination of the specifications used for income, SWB & OWB, & looking for other causal factors & at their possible competitive relations with economic inputs to well-being. It rejects responses that ignore the discrepancies or drastically downgrade their significance by adopting a well-being conception that ignores both SWB & OWB arguments (e.g., by a claim that all that matters is choice or being active). It concludes that the projects of Sen & others to build syntheses of the relevant responses require further attention. 4 Figures, 53 References. Adapted from the source document.