TY - JOUR
T1 - Subjective well-being and its determinants in rural China
AU - KNIGHT, John
AU - SONG, Lina
AU - GUNATILAKA, Ramani
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was supported by the UK ESRC-funded Global Poverty Research Group, which funded the subjective well-being module in the questionnaire for the rural sample of the China Household Survey, relating to 2002, of the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and from a grant made by the Nuffield Foundation for analysis of the survey. We are grateful to a referee for helpful comments.
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - A national household survey for 2002, containing a specially designed module on subjective well-being, is used to estimate pioneering happiness functions in rural China. The variables that are predicted by economic theory to be important for happiness prove to be relatively unimportant. Our analysis suggests that we need to draw on psychology and sociology if we are to understand. Rural China is not a hotbed of dissatisfaction with life, possibly because most people are found to confine their reference groups to the village. Relative income within the village and relative income over time, both in the past and expected in the future, are shown to be important for current happiness, whereas current income is less so. Even amidst the poverty of rural China, attitudes, social comparisons and aspirations influence subjective well-being. The implications of the findings for the future and for policy are considered.
AB - A national household survey for 2002, containing a specially designed module on subjective well-being, is used to estimate pioneering happiness functions in rural China. The variables that are predicted by economic theory to be important for happiness prove to be relatively unimportant. Our analysis suggests that we need to draw on psychology and sociology if we are to understand. Rural China is not a hotbed of dissatisfaction with life, possibly because most people are found to confine their reference groups to the village. Relative income within the village and relative income over time, both in the past and expected in the future, are shown to be important for current happiness, whereas current income is less so. Even amidst the poverty of rural China, attitudes, social comparisons and aspirations influence subjective well-being. The implications of the findings for the future and for policy are considered.
KW - Aspirations
KW - China
KW - Happiness
KW - Poverty
KW - Reference groups
KW - Relative deprivation
KW - Subjective well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70350044577&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chieco.2008.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.chieco.2008.09.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70350044577
SN - 1043-951X
VL - 20
SP - 635
EP - 649
JO - China Economic Review
JF - China Economic Review
IS - 4
ER -
