Download This PaperCan Marginal Rates of Substitution Be Inferred from Happiness Data? Evidence from Residency Choices
44 Pages Posted: 30 Mar 2013 Last revised: 21 Mar 2021
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Can Marginal Rates of Substitution Be Inferred from Happiness Data? Evidence from Residency Choices
Date Written: March 2013
Abstract
We survey 561 students from U.S. medical schools shortly after they submit choice rankings over residencies to the National Resident Matching Program. We elicit (a) these choice rankings, (b) anticipated subjective well-being (SWB) rankings, and (c) expected features of the residencies (such as prestige). We find substantial differences between choice and anticipated-SWB rankings in the implied tradeoffs between residency features. In our data, evaluative SWB measures (life satisfaction and Cantril's ladder) imply tradeoffs closer to choice than does affective happiness (even time-integrated), and as close as do multi-measure SWB indices. We discuss implications for using SWB data in applied work.
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USC, Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) ( email )
635 Downey Way
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Ori Heffetz
Cornell University - S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management ( email )
324 Sage Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States
Center for Economic and Social Research, USC ( email )
635 Downey Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089-3332
United States
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