This paper is about constancy of differences in life-satisfaction in society. It analyzes data of a large panel study in Germany, which involved yearly interviews between 1984 and 1994. Year-to-year correlation started at +0.45 and increased gradually to +0.54. The correlation between the first and later reports declined through the years, the correlation between the 1st and the 11th report was only +0.29. Observed overtime correlation...

The convergent and discriminant validities of well-being concepts were examined using multitrait-multimethod matrix analyses (D. T. Campbell & D. W. Fiske, 1959) on 3 sets of data. In Study 1, participants completed measures of life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, self-esteem, and optimism on 2 occasions 4 weeks apart and also obtained 3 informant ratings. In Study 2, participants completed each of the 5 measures...

 People acting in an anomalous way can do better by reducing their anomalies, and clever people and firms can profit by exploiting anomalies. Due to these reactions, anomalies and their frequency are not exogenously given (as is assumed in the ‘psychological’ and the ‘axiomatic’ approaches) but are endogenous and influenced by social processes. The here proposed ‘incentive’ approach focuses on the conditions under which, on...

  Employees are motivated intrinsically as well as extrinsically. Intrinsic motivation is crucial when tacit knowledge in and between teams must be transferred. Organizational forms enable different kinds of motivation and have different capacities to generate and transfer tacit knowledge. Since knowledge generation and transfer are essential for a firm's sustainable competitive advantage, we ask specifically what kinds of motivation are needed to generate and transfer...

초록 없음 Slesnick, D. T. (1998). Empirical approaches to the measurement of welfare. Journal of Economic Literature, 36(4), 2108-2165.

The study of well–being is a rapidly evolving field, and an exquisite example of a truly multidisciplinary endeavour. Two of the strongest strands have emerged from recent research on positive psychology and on social capital, but the field reaches well beyond these domains. We summarize some of the major themes that unite these different approaches and disciplines, highlighting both commonalities and controversies. The five themes...

Does economic growth increase social welfare (happiness)? Answers to such questions can only be provided by a complete analysis of all the objective, subjective, and institutional effects. All measures originate from the subjective world, working through the institutional setting to affect the objective world, the institutional setting and/or the subjective world. Due to the increasing complexity of the modern society, it is likely that more...

Modern economists are strongly biased in favour of preference (in contrast to happiness), ordinalism, and against interpersonal comparison. I wish to argue for the opposite. The proposed change in perspective has important conceptual and policy significance, as also evidenced in the papers by Frank and Oswald in this issue that I strongly endorse. Neoclassical economists used more subjective terms like satisfaction, marginal utility, and even happiness,...

 In the process of modernization, western societies became more individualistic. Ever since there have been claims that this development will create an unlivable society. Humans would need a Gemeinschaft and would wither in Gesellschaft. This classic idea lives in present day 'communitarism' and inspires pleas for the strengthening of moral bonds and preserving the welfare state. This paper reports an empirical test of the claim...

This essay illustrates that if Savage's small world assumption is relaxed, one can construct a theory of bounded rationality that incorporates some of the insights from recent work in cognitive psychology. The theory can be used to explain why contracts are incomplete and the existence of endowment effects in exchange. /// Décision, contrat et émotion: une économique pour un monde complexe et confus. Ce mémoire...