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If not only GDP, what else? Using relational goods to predict the trends of subjective well-being

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Abstract

In the last decade, a lively interdisciplinary discussion has grown around the evidence that, in the long-run, people’s subjective well-being is not significantly correlated with income growth. In other words, GDP growth does not predict the long run growth of subjective well-being. In this paper, we argue that there exists a different predictor of subjective well-being that works pretty well: sociability, i.e. the quality and quantity of social relationships (also referred to as relational goods). More precisely, we illustrate the role of sociability as a predictor of well-being, presenting the available evidence at both the within-country and the worldwide level. In particular, we discuss recent evidence from US cross-sectional data (General Social Survey, 1975–2004), cross-country time series (World Value Survey 1980–2005), and German panel data (German Socio-Economic Panel, 1996–2007). We conclude by indicating the most relevant open issues and suggesting future lines of research.

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Notes

  1. Besides the role of income aspirations, SWB data have been used to investigate the inflation-unemployment trade-off (Di Tella et al. 2001, 2003), the role of political institutions (Frey and Stutzer 2000), the impact of environmental pollution (Welsch 2006, 2007; Ferrer-i-Carbonell and Gowdy 2007), the costs of unemployment (Clark and Oswald 1994), inequality (Alesina et al. 2004; Graham and Pettinato 2002; see also Frey and Stutzer 2002). However, as indicated by Di Tella and MacCulloch (2008), adding these other sources of variation does not allow us to provide good predictions of SWB trends.

  2. The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations has become familiar in economics (Frey 1997; Kreps 1997; Benabou and Tirole 2003; for a survey see Frey and Jegen 2001).

  3. In a recent paper Stanca (2009) proposes a new method to measure the quality of relational life which builds on the evidence that better relational life goes with a higher SWB.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Benedetto Gui for his valuable comments and suggestions. A special thanks goes to the participants to the 2009 Conference on “Happiness and Relational Goods”, who have enthusiastically contributed to bring fresh and new ideas on our research. We also acknowledge the work of our co-authors Francesco Sarracino and Maurizio Pugno, which is extensively reported in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Economia Politica, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Stefano Bartolini

  2. Dipartimento di Economia Politica, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Ennio Bilancini

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  1. Stefano Bartolini
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  2. Ennio Bilancini
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Correspondence to Ennio Bilancini.

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Bartolini, S., Bilancini, E. If not only GDP, what else? Using relational goods to predict the trends of subjective well-being. Int Rev Econ 57, 199–213 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-010-0098-1

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