Assistant Professor of Economics Mo Alloush and Professor of Economics Stephen Wu published “Income Improves Subjective Well-being: Evidence from South Africa” in the journal Economic Development and Cultural Change in January.
The authors found that increases in income within a household improve the reported subjective well-being (happiness) of members of the household. In general, there are a lot of issues that make estimating the causal effect of income on happiness complicated -- in their analysis they used a jump in income, the Older Person's Grant that a person becomes eligible for in South Africa when they reach their 60th birthday. In multi-generational households, which are common in South Africa, all members of the households show an increase in their reported happiness.
