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The Metrics of Subjective Wellbeing: Cardinality, Neutrality and Additivity *
Author(s) -
KRISTOFFERSEN INGEBJØRG
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2009.00598.x
Subject(s) - neutrality , clarity , mainstream , interpersonal communication , subjective well being , social psychology , quality (philosophy) , psychology , cardinality (data modeling) , public economics , positive economics , economics , political science , computer science , data mining , epistemology , law , biochemistry , chemistry , philosophy , happiness
The use of subjective wellbeing (SWB) data in economic analysis has increased dramatically in recent years and has now become mainstream, despite some lingering concerns about the quality of these data. Although the psychology literature to a certain extent has succeeded in addressing the issues of interpersonal, intertemporal and international comparison of SWB data, the issues of cardinality, neutrality and additivity continue to be contentious among economists. This article surveys the existing literature relevant to these issues in an effort to provide clarity and thus assist SWB data users to develop more robust research designs.