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Inequality, Consumption, Happiness, and Well-Being

Inequality, Consumption, Happiness, and Well-Being. Steven Horwitz IHS: Morality, Capitalism, & Freedom Summer 2010. An Overview. Are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? What about income mobility?

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Inequality, Consumption, Happiness, and Well-Being

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  1. Inequality, Consumption, Happiness, and Well-Being Steven Horwitz IHS: Morality, Capitalism, & Freedom Summer 2010

  2. An Overview • Are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? What about income mobility? • What exactly do the poor have in their houses and how does it compare past poor folks and the past middle class? • Are Americans happy? Does wealth make people happier? Is it just subjective? • Are we “objectively” better off? How does this relate to wealth?

  3. Table 1: US Income Distribution by Quintile, 1997

  4. Table 2: US Income Distribution to Top and Bottom Quintile: 1975 and 1997

  5. Table 3: Income Mobility 1979 to 1988  (US Treasury Data)

  6. Table 4: Income Mobility 1975 to 1991  (PSID-UM Data)

  7. Table 5: Absolute Average Income Change, by Quintile 1975-91 (1997 dollars)

  8. Table 6: Income Mobility 1996-2005 (Treasury)

  9. Table 7: Household Consumption 1984-2005

  10. Table 8: Rich-Poor Gap in Consumption 2003-2005

  11. Table 9: Work Hours Needed to Buy Standard Consumption Goods

  12. Figure 1: Economic Freedom and Self-Reported Happiness

  13. Figure 2: Life Satisfaction and GDP per Capita

  14. Happiness “set points”?

  15. GDP per Capita and Well-Being • “A large recent study by OECD economists Romina Boarini, Asa Johansson, and Marco Mira d’Ecole focused on the relationship between GDP per capita and alternative measures of well-being in the OECD nations. The authors found significant positive correlations of GDP per capita with self-sufficiency, average years of schooling, life expectancy at birth, healthy life expectancy at birth, mortality risks, and volunteering. Further, GDP per capita was significantly negatively correlated with income inequality, relative poverty, child poverty, and child mortality.” • Source: Will Wilkinson, “In Pursuit of Happiness Research: Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy?” Policy Analysis 590, April 12, 2007, Cato Institute.

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