We conduct a random-assignment experiment to investigate whether positive affect impacts time preference, where time preference denotes a preference for present over future utility. Our result indicates that, compared to neutral affect, mild positive affect significantly reduces subjects’ time...

The field of “Happiness Research” has grown markedly. A central question is whether economic growth increases mean Subjective Well Being (SWB), one measure of which is happiness. Cross-sectional analysis clearly indicates that there is a positive relationship between income and SWB. However,...

Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we examine the impact of the Great Recession on subjective well-being (as measured by life satisfaction) and attempt to identify disparate effects by age. We find that those...

John Stuart Mill claimed that "men do not desire merely to be rich, but richer than other men." Do people desire to be richer than others? Or is it that people desire favorable comparisons to others more generally, and being richer is merely a proxy for this ineffable relativity? We conduct an...

We examine whether biases identified in the behavioral-economics literature apply in decision-making for others (DMfO). We conduct a laboratory experiment in which subjects make decision on behalf of themselves and others in eighteen tasks that measure the following biases: present-bias in time...

This paper contributes to the small but growing literature evaluating the health effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In particular, we use data from the National Survey of Families and Households to study the impact of the 1990 federal EITC expansion on several outcomes related to...

This paper contributes to the small but growing literature evaluating the health effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In particular, we use data from the National Survey of Families and Households to study the impact of the 1990 federal EITC expansion on several outcomes related to...

We study the subjective well being (SWB) of single mothers from 1972 to 2008 using data from the General Social Survey. While past literature has examined the outcomes of single mothers, an investigation of SWB is warranted, since it has been shown that there are potentially large slippages...

Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that men are significantly more willing to compete than women given a binary choice between a Piece‐Rate (PR) and Winner‐Take‐All (WTA) payment in stereotypically‐male tasks. This difference is ascribed to variant overconfidence and preference for...