LOCAL STATUS AND NATIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE
研究发现个人幸福感受其在参考群体中收入排名的影响，而参考群体通常小于全国范围。若国家社会福利是个人幸福感的加总，则其不对称。基于美国各州数据的实证表明，反映本地地位的修正基尼指数在1949-1979年间改善幅度远小于标准基尼指数。
ABSTRACT Perceptions of individual well‐being are influenced by local status, i.e., one's place in the income distribution of one's reference group. In general, reference groups are smaller than the entire nation. If national social welfare is an aggregate of individual's well‐being, then it is not symmetric with respect to all individuals. A geographical interpretation of reference groups means that the welfare of a family living in one region is only influenced by other families in that region. An empirical application, using states, shows that a Gini index modified to reflect local status showed much less improvement 1949‐1979 than did the standard Gini.