What is it about?
We check to see how people (mis)perceive the financial condition of their immediate neighbors and how it affects their happiness. We find that the objective realities are very different from how people perceive it. When it comes to happiness only perceptions matter and not the objective realities.
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Why is it important?
At a time when social media is affecting people's perceptions, policy makers are trying to getting elected by manipulating public perception, it is important to see if individual perceptions are related to reality or not.
Perspectives
I use a novel dataset from rural Bangladesh which does a very accurate job of defining and studying local neighbors and the effect their financial conditions have on individual happiness. The findings are quite robust and interesting. Perhaps a bit worrisome!
Muhammad F Bhuiyan
Carleton College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Life Satisfaction and Economic Position Relative to Neighbors: Perceptions Versus Reality, Journal of Happiness Studies, July 2017, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9904-8.
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