What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?

Benjamin, Daniel J.; Heffetz, Ori; Kimball, Miles S.; Rees-Jones, Alex

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose?

American Economic Review, 102(5): 2083–2110

Johnson School Research Paper Series No. 32-2011

42 Pages Posted: 28 Jul 2011 Last revised: 22 Sep 2013

See all articles by Daniel J. Benjamin

Daniel J. Benjamin

Anderson School of Management; USC, Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Human Genetics Department, David Geffen School of Medicine

Ori Heffetz

Cornell University - S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Department of Economics and Center for Rationality; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Miles S. Kimball

University of Colorado Boulder; University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics; Center for Economic and Social Research, USC; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Alex Rees-Jones

Cornell University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: July 27, 2011

Abstract

Would people choose what they think would maximize their subjective well-being (SWB)? We present survey respondents with hypothetical scenarios and elicit both choice and predicted SWB rankings of two alternatives. While choice and predicted SWB rankings usually coincide in our data, we find systematic reversals. We identify factors - such as predicted sense of purpose, control over one’s life, family happiness, and social status - that help explain hypothetical choice controlling for predicted SWB. We explore how our findings vary by SWB measure and by scenario. Our results have implications regarding the use of SWB survey questions as a proxy for utility.

Keywords: happiness, life satisfaction, subjective well-being, hypothetical choice, utility

JEL Classification: D03, D60

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Benjamin, Daniel J. and Benjamin, Daniel J. and Heffetz, Ori and Kimball, Miles S. and Rees-Jones, Alex, What Do You Think Would Make You Happier? What Do You Think You Would Choose? (July 27, 2011). American Economic Review, 102(5): 2083–2110, Johnson School Research Paper Series No. 32-2011 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1896182