This dissertation combines three contributions to the literature on the determinants of well-being
and the social nature of preferences. Departures from self-centred, consumption-oriented decision making are increasingly common in economic theory and are empirically well motivated
by a wide range of behavioural data from experiments, surveys, and econometric inference. The
first two contributions are focused on the idea that reference levels set by others’ consumption
may figure prominently in both experienced well-being and in decision making. In the first
paper, the well-being question is addressed empirically through the use of self-reported life satisfaction and high-resolution census and survey data in Canada. Strong income externalities
are found at multiple spatial scales after controlling for various confounding factors. The second paper explores the general equilibrium consequences of a utility function having an explicit
comparison with neighbours’ consumption. The question is investigated in a model in which
decision makers knowingly choose their neighbours — and hence their consumption reference
level — as well as their own consumption expenditure, thereby helping to set the reference
level for nearby others. For both discrete and continuous distributions of types in an economy
with a heterogeneous population undergoing such endogenous formation of consumption reference groups, there exist general equilibria in which differentiation of neighbourhoods occurs
endogenously. The novel welfare implications of growth in such economies are described. The
final paper addresses econometric reservations about the use of subjective reports as dependent
variables. The date and location of survey interviews are combined with weather and climate
records to construct the random component of weather conditions experienced by respondents
on the day of their interview. Standard inferences about the determinants of life satisfaction
remain robust after taking into account this significant source of affective bias.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/3696 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Barrington-Leigh, Christopher Paul |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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