| By: |
Ifcher, John;
Zarghamee, Homa;
Goff, Sandra H. |
| Abstract: |
The recent surge in analyses of subjective well-being (SWB) and the economics
of happiness using large observational datasets has generated stylized facts
about the relationship between SWB and various correlates. Because such
studies are mostly concerned with the determinants of SWB, the modeling
utilized assumes SWB to be the dependent variable. Often, selection effects,
reverse causality, and omitted variable bias cannot adequately be controlled
for, calling many of the stylized facts into question. This chapter explores
the important contributions that happiness-in-the-lab experiments can make to
the debates about stylized facts by testing the causality of the relationship
between SWB and its correlates. A distinction is made between
happiness-in-the-lab experiments in which SWB is a dependent versus
independent variable, and methods for both types of experiments are discussed,
along with a discussion of the limitations inherent in such experiments. The
extant happiness-in-the-lab literature is reviewed and future directions for
happiness-in the-lab research are proposed. The important role that
happiness-inthe- lab experiments can play in the development of national SWB
accounting is emphasized. |
| Keywords: |
Subjective Well-Being,Happiness,Positive Affect,Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT),Economic Experiments & Causation |
| JEL: |
C9 I31 |
| Date: |
2021 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:943&r= |