Authors
BM Van Praag, Paul Frijters
Publication date
1999/7/8
Source
Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology
Pages
413-433
Publisher
Russel Sage Foundation
Description
This chapter focuses on the measurement of individual welfare derived from income, known as the Leyden approach. The approach, initiated by van Praag (1971), is one of the few attempts to measure welfare that has been developed within the economic discipline. The method is based on the Income Evaluation Question, which is intended to get an idea of the individual’s norms on income: respondents are asked what they consider to be a “good” income and a “bad” income. The answers to these questions may be used to get an insight into the effects of family size and climate on individual welfare. The influence of past incomes and anticipated incomes on current welfare is also considered. The method is generalized toward the measurement of other norms. We also consider how a social standard may be derived from individual norms. Finally, we address the question of how welfare is related to well-being. By measuring both concepts, it can be shown that they are different. The combination of both measures makes it possible to distinguish between the monetary costs and the nonmonetary benefits of choices, such as having chil-dren.
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