Van Praag, B. M. (1971). The welfare function of income in Belgium: An empirical investigation. European Economic Review, 2, 337-369.

This paper is an empirical investigation into the validity of some theses posed in [5]. There it is stated (1) that the individual is able to evaluate his income level on a zero-one scale in a cardinal way, and (2) that the resulting evaluation U(y) of a steady income stream at level y under specific assumptions is approximately equal to λ (y; μ, σ2), where λ is a lognormal distribution function with parameters μ, σ2.

 

In this paper these statements are empirically investigated on the basis of a consumer survey conducted by the Belgian Consumer Union. Moreover, approximate relationships between the values of μ, σ2 and several variables, such as income, family size, age, job, stability of income, etc., have been derived.

 

It turns out that σ2 is an individual constant, but that μ can be explained for a considerable part by the variables family size and income level. Most notable is the dependence of the individual’s welfare evaluation on income, a phenomenon that is called “ preference drift.” It might lead to major changes in parts of the existing economic theory on consumer behavior and social welfare.

 


Van Praag, B. M. (1971). The welfare function of income in Belgium: An empirical investigation. European Economic Review, 2, 337-369.

http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.898125

 

 

 

Lyubomirsky, S., &Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social indicators research, 46(2), 137-155.

Using a ”subjectivist” approach to the assessment of happiness, a new 4-item measure of global subjective happiness was developed and validated in 14 studies with a total of 2 732 participants. Data was collected in the United States from students on two college campuses and one high school campus, from community adults in two California cities, and from older adults. Students and community adults in Moscow, Russia also participated in this research. Results indicated that the Subjective Happiness Scale has high internal consistency, which was found to be stable across samples. Test-retest and self-peer correlations suggested good to excellent reliability, and construct validation studies of convergent and discriminant validity confirmed the use of this scale to measure the construct of subjective happiness. The rationale for developing a new measure of happiness, as well as advantages of this scale, are discussed.

 

 

Lyubomirsky, S., &Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social indicators research, 46(2), 137-155.

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006824100041

 

 

Kasser, T., &Ryan, R. M. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 410-422.

Aspiring for financial success is an important aspect of capitalist cultures. Three studies examine the hypothesis that values and expectancies for wealth and money are negatively associated with adjustment and well-being when they are more central to an individual than other self-relevant values and expectancies. Studies 1 and 2 use 2 methods to show that the relative centrality of money-related values and expectancies is negatively related to college students’ well-being and mental health. Study 3, using a heterogeneous noncollege sample, extends these findings by showing that a high centrality of aspirations for financial success is associated with interview ratings of lower global adjustment and social productivity and more behavioral disorders. Discussion is focused on the deleterious consequences of materialistic world views and the need to examine differential aspects of content regarding goals and values.

 

 

Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 410-422.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.410  

Uchida, Y., Norasakkunkit, V., &Kitayama, S. (2004). Cultural constructions of happiness: theory and emprical evidence. Journal of happiness studies, 5(3), 223-239.

In a review of recent cross-cultural evidence on happiness and well-being, the authors identified substantial cultural variations in (1) cultural meanings of happiness, (2) motivations underlying happiness, and (3) predictors of happiness. Specifically, in North American cultural contexts, happiness tends to be defined in terms of personal achievement. Individuals engaging in these cultures are motivated to maximize the experience of positive affect. Moreover, happiness is best predicted by self-esteem. In contrast, in East Asian cultural contexts, happiness tends to be defined in terms of interpersonal connectedness. Individuals engaging in these cultures are motivated to maintain a balance between positive and negative affects. Moreover, happiness is best predicted by perceived embeddedness of the self in a social relationship. Directions for future research are discussed.

 

 

Uchida, Y., Norasakkunkit, V., &Kitayama, S. (2004). Cultural constructions of happiness: theory and emprical evidence. Journal of happiness studies, 5(3), 223-239.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-004-8785-9

 

 

Lindenberg, S. (1990). Homo socio-oeconomicus: The emergence of a general model of man in the social sciences.

초록 없음

 

 

Lindenberg, S. (1990). Homo socio-oeconomicus: The emergence of a general model of man in the social sciences. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE)/Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft, 146(4), 727-748.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40751361  

Lindenberg, S. (1986). The paradox of privatization in consumption. In paradoxical effects of social behavior(pp. 297-310). Physica-Verlag HD.

Most everyday goods can be more or less private in consumption. For example, a family may share one bathroom or may enjoy the luxury of one bathroom per person in which case the good has been completely privatized. Even such “personal” goods as haircuts may be shared in the sense that family members take turns getting a haircut rather than having their hair cut whenever they individually decide to do so. Thus, even haircuts may be privatized in consumption. There is a definite trend towards increasing privatization in consumption with increasing income. The paradox I would like to discuss in this paper can be summarized as follows: by increasing privacy in consumption, people seemingly also destroy something they cannot replace by their own efforts: certain forms of social approval. They seemingly act in such a way that they increase their own deprivation with regard to these forms of social approval..

 

 

Lindenberg, S. (1986). The paradox of privatization in consumption. In paradoxical effects of social behavior(pp. 297-310). Physica-Verlag HD.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95874-8_21

 

 

Lindenberg, S., &Frey, B. S. (1993). Alternatives, frames, and relative prices: A broader view of rational choice theory. Acta sociologica, 36(3), 191-205.

One important consequence of the increasing convergence between sociology and econ omics is that sociologists make increasingly more use of rational choice theories for the explanation of social action. This shift opens up the possibility that sociologists make use of what must be considered to be the most powerful regularity in the social sciences: the relative pnce effect, which states that behavior depends directly on relative prices (or relative scarcities). This effect is also known as the law of demand: as one good becomes more costly in comparison to others, a person will purchase less of that good. It turns out that crucial sociological questions (for instance the relation of gain-oriented behavior to moral behavior) make it necessary that we know something about the size of the relative price effect. Surprisingly, there is virtually no theory in economics on this point and thus rational choice theory is badly in need of being extended in this direction. In this paper, two such extensions are suggested. First, a theory of alternatives consisting of (a) a theory of social production functions, (b) a theory of non-given alternatives and (c) a theory of ‘ipsative’ sets of alternatives Second, a theory of framing is presented which links the relative price effect to the definition of the situation which in turn is theoretically linked to the theory of alternatives. It is argued that these extensions make rational choice theory much more relevant for sociological applications than the neo- classical model in which alternatives are exogenously given and the definition of the situation is implicitly locked to a standard trading situation.

 

 

Lindenberg, S., &Frey, B. S. (1993). Alternatives, frames, and relative prices: A broader view of rational choice theory. Acta sociologica, 36(3), 191-205.

https://doi.org/10.1177/000169939303600304

 

Camerer, C. F. (2007). Neuroeconomics: using neuroscience to make economic predictions. The Economic Journal, 117(519), C26-C42.

Neuroeconomics seeks to ground economic theory in detailed neural mechanisms which are expressed mathematically and make behavioural predictions. One finding is that simple kinds of economising for life‐and‐death decisions (food, sex and danger) do occur in the brain as rational theories assume. Another set of findings appears to support the neural basis of constructs posited in behavioural economics, such as a preference for immediacy and nonlinear weighting of small and large probabilities. A third direction shows how understanding neural circuitry permits predictions and causal experiments which show state‐dependence of revealed preference – except that states are biological and neural variables.

 

 

Camerer, C. F. (2007). Neuroeconomics: using neuroscience to make economic predictions. The Economic Journal, 117(519), C26-C42.

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819025.024

 

 

Feld, L. P., &Frey, B. S. (2002). Trust breeds trust: How taxpayers are treated. Economics of Governance, 3(2), 87-99.

Tax compliance has been studied in economics by analysing the individual decision of a representative person between paying and evading taxes. A neglected aspect of tax compliance is the interaction of taxpayers and tax authorities. The relationship between the two actors can be understood as an implicit or “psychological” contract. Studies on tax evasion in Switzerland show that the more strongly the political participation rights are developed, the more important this contract is, and the higher tax morale is. In this paper, empirical evidence based on a survey of tax authorities of the 26 Swiss states (cantons) is presented, indicating that the differences in the treatment of taxpayers by tax authorities can be explained by differences in political participation rights as well.

 

 

Feld, L. P., &Frey, B. S. (2002). Trust breeds trust: How taxpayers are treated. Economics of Governance, 3(2), 87-99.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s101010100032

 

 

Frey, B., &Feld, L. (2002). Deterrence and morale in taxation: An empirical analysis.

The standard model of tax evasion based on the subjective expected utility maximization does not perform particularly well in econometric analyses: It predicts too little evasion and produces unsatisfactory econometric parameter estimates. The model is extended by looking at how the tax authority deals with the taxpayers. Based on econometric estimates, it is shown that taxpayers’ tax morale is raised when the tax officials treat them with respect. In contrast, when tax officials solely rely on deterrence taxpayers tend to respond by actively trying to avoid taxation.

 

 

Frey, B., &Feld, L. (2002). Deterrence and morale in taxation: An empirical analysis. CESifo Working Paper Series no. 760, Center for Economic Studies, University of Munich.