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Ambition and Jealousy: Income Interactions in the ‘Old’ Europe versus the ‘New’ Europe and the United States
Author(s) -
SENIK CLAUDIA
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00629.x
Subject(s) - jealousy , demographic economics , economics , transition countries , low income , eu countries , development economics , international economics , european union , psychology , social psychology
Using individual‐level data from a large number of countries, this paper examines how self‐reported subjective well‐being depends on own income and reference income, where reference income is defined as the income of one's professional peers. It uncovers a divide between ‘old’—low‐mobility—European countries on the one hand, and ‘new’ European post‐Transition countries and the United States on the other. The relative importance of comparisons (‘jealousy’) versus information (‘ambition’) seems to depend on the degree of mobility and uncertainty in the considered countries.