Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., &Thaler, R. (1986). Fairness as a constraint on profit seeking: Entitlements in the market. The American economic review,728-741.

 

Community standards of fairness for the setting of prices and wages were elicited by telephone surveys. In customer or labor markets, it is acceptable for a firm to raise prices (or cut wages) when profits are threatened and to maintain prices when costs diminish. It is unfair to exploit shifts in demand by raising prices or cutting wages. Several market anomalies are explained by assuming that these standards of fairness influence the behavior of firms.

 

 

Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., &Thaler, R. (1986). Fairness as a constraint on profit seeking: Entitlements in the market. The American economic review,728-741.

 

Greenberg, J. (1990). Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts.

 

Employee theft rates were measured in manufacturing plants during a period in which pay was temporarily reduced by 15%. Compared with pre- or postreduction pay period (or with control groups whose pay was unchanged), groups whose pay was reduced had significantly higher theft rates. When the basis for the pay cuts was thoroughly and sensitively explained to employees, feelings of inequity were lessened, and the theft rate was reduced as well. The data support equity theory’s predictions regarding likely responses to underpayment and extend recently accumulated evidence demonstrating the mitigating effects of adequate explanations on feelings of inequity.

 

 

Greenberg, J. (1990). Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75(5), 561-568.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.75.5.561

 

Laibson, D. (1997). Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2), 443-478.

Hyperbolic discount functions induce dynamically inconsistent preferences, implying a motive for consumers to constrain their own future choices. This paper analyzes the decisions of a hyperbolic consumer who has access to an imperfect commitment technology: an illiquid asset whose sale must be initiated one period before the sale proceeds are received. The model predicts that consumption tracks income, and the model explains why consumers have asset-specific marginal propensities to consume. The model suggests that financial innovation may have caused the ongoing decline in U. S. savings rates, since financial innovation increases liquidity, eliminating commitment opportunities. Finally, the model implies that financial market innovation may reduce welfare by providing “too much” liquidity.

 


Laibson, D. (1997). Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2), 443-478.

https://doi.org/10.1162/003355397555253

 

 

 

 

 

Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D. A., Schwarz, N., &Stone, A. A. (2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method.

The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) assesses how people spend their time and how they experience the various activities and settings of their lives, combining features of time-budget measurement and experience sampling. Participants systematically reconstruct their activities and experiences of the preceding day with procedures designed to reduce recall biases. The DRM’s utility is shown by documenting close correspondences between the DRM reports of 909 employed women and established results from experience sampling. An analysis of the hedonic treadmill shows the DRM’s potential for well-being research.

 

 

Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D. A., Schwarz, N., &Stone, A. A. (2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method. Science, 306(5702), 1776-1780.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1103572

 

Espe, H., &Seiwert, M. (1987). Television viewing types, general life satisfaction, and viewing amount: An empirical study in West Germany. Communications, 13(2), 95-110.

Studied the interactions among TV program interests, sociodemographic and political characteristics, general life satisfaction, and amount of TV viewing time. Human subjects: 956 normal male and female German adolescents and adults (15 yrs and over). Ss completed interviews and were classified into TV viewer types on the basis of their responses. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine interactions among viewer type, life satisfaction, and daily viewing time. (French & German abstracts)

 

 

Espe, H., &Seiwert, M. (1987). Television viewing types, general life satisfaction, and viewing amount: An empirical study in West Germany. Communications, 13(2), 95-110.

https://doi.org/10.1515/comm.1987.13.2.95

 

Benz, M. (2005). Not for the profit, but for the satisfaction?–evidence on worker well‐being in non‐profit firms. Kyklos, 58(2), 155-176.

Non‐profit firms are often seen as workplaces where people not only work for money, but also find substantial satisfaction in the kind of work they do. Studies looking at compensating wage differentials, however, have only found limited support for this notion. In this paper, a novel approach is undertaken to compare the utilities of non‐profit and for‐profit employees, by using measures of job satisfaction. The results show that in both the United States and Great Britain over the 1990’s, non‐profit workers were generally more satisfied with their jobs than for‐profit workers. The robustness of the results is explored in detail, and implications for the governance of non‐profit firms are shortly discussed.

 

 

Benz, M. (2005). Not for the profit, but for the satisfaction?–evidence on worker well‐being in non‐profit firms. Kyklos, 58(2), 155-176.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-5962.2005.00283.x

 

Diener, E., Gohm, C. L., Suh, E., &Oishi, S. (2000). Similarity of the relations between marital status and subjective well-being across cultures. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 31(4), 419-436.

In a sample of 59,169 persons in 42 nations, relations between marital status and subjective well-being were found to be very similar across the world. Although cultural variables were found to alter the size of certain relations between marital status and subjective well-being, the effect sizes were very small. Specifically, in terms of life satisfaction, the benefit of marriage over cohabitation was greater in collectivist than in individualist nations. In terms of positive emotions, the benefit of being married over being divorced or separated was smaller in collectivist than in individualist nations. In addition, in terms of negative emotions, the benefit of being married over being divorced or separated was smaller in nations with a high tolerance for divorce. Finally, the relations between marital status, culture, and subjective well-being did not differ by gender. Because of the small size of the effects of the cultural variables, the authors concluded that the relations between marital status and subjective well-being are very similar across the world.

 

 

Diener, E., Gohm, C. L., Suh, E., &Oishi, S. (2000). Similarity of the relations between marital status and subjective well-being across cultures. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 31(4), 419-436.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022100031004001

 

 

Benz, M., &Frey, B. S. (2008). Being independent is a great thing: Subjective evaluations of self‐employment and hierarchy. Economica, 75(298), 362-383.

One can be independent, or one can be subject to decisions made by others. This paper argues that this difference, embodied in the institutional distinction between the decision‐making procedures ‘market’ and ‘hierarchy’, affects individual wellbeing beyond outcomes. Taking self‐employment as an important case of independence, it is shown that the self‐employed derive higher satisfaction from work than those employed in organizations, irrespective of income gained or hours worked. This is evidence for procedural utility: people value not only outcomes, but also the processes leading to outcomes.

 

 

Benz, M., &Frey, B. S. (2008). Being independent is a great thing: Subjective evaluations of self‐employment and hierarchy. Economica, 75(298), 362-383.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00594.x

 

Becker, G. S. (1973). A theory of marriage: Part I. Journal of Political economy, 81(4), 813-846.

I present in this paper the skeleton of a theory of marriage. The two basic assumptions are that each person tries to do as well as possible and that the “marriage market” is in equilibrium. With the aid of several additional simplifying assumptions, I derive a number of significant implications about behavior in this market. For example, the gain to a man and woman from marrying compared to remaining single is shown to depend positively on their incomes, human capital, and relative difference in wage rates. The theory also implies that men differing in physical capital, education or intelligence (aside from their effects on wage rates), height, race, or many other traits will tend to marry women with like values of these traits, whereas the correlation between mates for wage rates or for traits of men and women that are close substitutes in household production will tend to be negative. The theory does not take the division of output between mates as given, but rather derives it from the nature of the marriage market equilibrium. The division is determined here, as in other markets, by marginal productivities, and these are affected by the human and physical capital of different persons, sex ratios (that is, the relative numbers of men and women), and some other variables.

 


Becker, G. S. (1973). A theory of marriage: Part I. Journal of Political economy, 81(4), 813-846.

https://doi.org/10.1086/260084