[ECON20141308]

發展經濟學研討會

 【總第26期】 

【時間】 11月21日，星期五， 12:00—13:30 

【地點】明德主樓734會議室  
  【主講人】葉茂亮 （with Hongbin Li, Pak-wai Liu and Junsen Zhang）  
  【主題】Does Money Buy Happiness Evidence from Twins in Urban China  
 
 
  【摘要】Whether money makes people happy is a fundamental question in economics. This paper contributes to the literature on the effect of income on happiness, and to the best of our knowledge, it is the first study of this kind that draws on twins data. We control for the crucial genetic factors and family background by using unique Chinese twins data in a within-twin-pair fixed-effects model. We also use the instrumental variable fixed-effects method to correct the measurement error bias. The results are robust after we consider the various measures of income and wealth, the potential biases of within-twin-pair estimates, and the possibility of reverse causality. We find that income has a large positive effect on happiness: Beyond the effect of genes and family background, the pattern that the rich are happier than the poor is partly driven by the higher income of the former per se. We further examine the cross effect of the income of twin siblings and find evidence that twins have a preference of inequality aversion towards their siblings. Our findings help us understand the inequality of subjective well-being in the context of economic development and transition, and present important implications for China and for other fast-growing and highly unequal countries.  
  【演講人簡要簡介】  
  葉茂亮，漢青經濟與金融高級研究院助理教授，2012年博士畢業于哈佛大學肯尼迪政府學院，主要研究領域為實驗與行為經濟學，公共經濟學，政治經濟學，勞動經濟學，發展經濟學。  
 

中國人民大學經濟學院

        2014年11月18日