详情
Twins, Income, and Happiness: Evidence from China
We estimate the causal effect of income on happiness using a unique dataset of Chinese
twins. This allows us to address omitted variable bias and measurement errors. Our findings
show that individual income has a large positive effect on happiness, with a doubling of
income resulting in an increase of 0.26 scales or 0.37 standard deviations in the four-scale
happiness measure. We also find that income matters most for males and the middle-aged.
Our results highlight the importance of accounting for various biases when studying the
relationship between socioeconomic status and subjective well-being.