Income distribution and well-being: what can we learn from subjective data?
这篇综述探讨他人收入如何影响个人福祉，利用主观数据区分直接偏好效应与间接信息效应，发现感知流动性是连接他人收入与个人满意度的关键，且个体重视流动性本身的平等性。
Abstract. How does the income of others affect my own welfare? This survey of the empirical literature stresses the contribution of subjective data to the understanding of this issue, with an attempt to disentangle direct effects (preference interdependence) from indirect informational effects. It shows that perceived mobility is central to the link between other people's income and individual satisfaction, as it determines individual opportunities and risks. Agents also appreciate the egalitarian nature of mobility itself, so that individual welfare depends on dynamic inequality rather than static income distribution. These studies illustrate how subjective data can bring information on aspects of utility and social interactions that are beyond the scope of the method based on action-revealed preferences.