The Effects of Income on Happiness in East and South Asia: Societal Values Matter?

Lim, Hock Eam; Shaw, Daigee; Liao, Pei‐Shan; Duan, Hongbo

doi:10.1007/s10902-019-00088-9

Cited by 49 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Reviews in the relevant literature have mostly shown a positive association between income and subjective well-being (Diener and Biswas-Diener 2002;Howell and Howell 2008;Howell, Kern, and Lyubomirsky 2007;Lucas and Schimmack 2009;Ward and King 2016). Recent research supports such a positive effect of income on happiness not just in Western societies but also in East Asia, South Asia, and South Africa though to a varying degree (Kollamparambil 2020;Lim et al 2020). The form of income analyzed can be important, and some researchers found that permanent income is a better predictor of life satisfaction than current income, most often analyzed in much of the research on income and happiness (D'Ambrosio, Jänti, and Lepinteur 2020).…”

Section: Income Effectsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Income Inequality, Social Comparison, and Happiness in the United States

Liao

2021

Socius

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Using social comparison theory, I investigate the relation between experienced happiness and income inequality. In the analysis, I study happiness effects of the individual-level within-gender-ethnicity comparison-based Gini index conditional on a state’s overall inequality, using a linked set of the March 2013 Current Population Survey and the 2013 American Time Use Survey data while controlling major potential confounders. The findings suggest that individuals who are positioned to conduct both upward and downward comparison would feel happier in states where overall income inequality is high. In states where inequality is not high, however, such effects are not present because social comparison becomes less meaningful when one’s position is not as clearly definable. Therefore, social comparison matters where inequality persists: One’s comparison with all similar others’ in the income distribution in a social environment determines the effect of one’s income on happiness, with the comparison target being the same gender-ethnic group.

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Section: Income Effectsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Income Inequality, Social Comparison, and Happiness in the United States

Liao

2021

Socius

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“…Happiness refers to "a person's cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life" (Diener et al 2002, p. 63). The benchmark of happiness is rooted in the mind of the individual and determines whether he or she is happy (Lim et al 2019;Lu et al 2001). Researchers argue that both objective (e.g., income) and subjective factors (e.g., values and religion) can influence the happiness of an individual.…”

Section: Association and Mechanism Of Religion And Happinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers argue that both objective (e.g., income) and subjective factors (e.g., values and religion) can influence the happiness of an individual. Furthermore, whether one objective factor can influence an individual's happiness depends on whether or not it can change the individual's subjective state of mind in response to it (Lim et al 2019;Reyes-García et al 2016).…”

Section: Association and Mechanism Of Religion And Happinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meanwhile, scholars have proposed that among different cultural contexts, such as those found in East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East (e.g., Lim et al 2019;Devine et al 2019;Fariddanesh and Rezaei 2019), there has only been a very small volume of literature focusing on countries where atheism is the social norm (McCullough and Willoughby 2009;Potter 2003;Wielander 2017;Thege et al 2013;Yang 2006). China is considered to be much less religious than many Western countries (Overmyer and Edmonds 2003;Wang et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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One Religion, Two Tales: Religion and Happiness in Urban and Rural Areas of China

2019

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Most previous studies performed in Western social contexts have revealed that religion can influence an individual’s sense of happiness. Few studies have sought to clarify the influence of religion in a Chinese social context, however, and there has been no study specifically about the potential differences in the dichotomous social environments of urban and rural areas in China. Via the nationwide survey data of the 2007 Spiritual Life Study of Chinese Residents (SLSC), this study examines the association between religion and happiness among urban and rural residents of China. The results reveal that there is a generally positive association between religion and happiness among those with religious affiliations in China. Regardless of affiliation with Buddhism or Protestantism, there is a strong positive association among rural respondents, an insignificant association among urban respondents, and mixed results among town residents.

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“… Han and Gao (2019) show that participation in welfare programs, such as subsistence allowance in rural areas, can raise life satisfaction among recipients. Other determinants of subjective well-being in China include the quality of government, belief in distributive justice, and social values ( Huang, 2019 ; Lim et al, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%