caa a22 4500 445389087 CHVBK 20180317143041.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10888-010-9127-2 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10888-010-9127-2 Van Praag Bernard Tinbergen Institute, University of Amsterdam, CESifo, IZA, DIW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut Well-being inequality and reference groups: an agenda for new research [Elektronische Daten] [Bernard Van Praag] In this paper it is argued that subjective well-being (SWB) of the individual depends on two types of variables. The first type consists of characteristics of the individual himself, such as age, health, income, etc. The second type of variables consists of the characteristics of the individuals belonging to his reference group. The vast literature about happiness, quality of life, and well-being informs us extensively about the effects of objective variables. How the second type affects well-being is much less investigated. It is argued that the concept of well-being inequality cannot be properly defined without taking the referencing process into account. The reference effect depends on how frequently individuals compare with others and on the degree of social transparency in society. We attempt to give a structural embedding of the idea of reference groups in SWB-models. In this paper we employ the reference-extended model for incorporating in happiness studies the concept of inequality in happiness or SWB. Finally, we plead for an extension of the present happiness paradigm by setting up a new additional agenda for empirical research in order to get quantified knowledge about the referencing process. As a first step we suggest a new question module to be included in new survey questionnaires. The Author(s), 2010 Subjective well being nationallicence Happiness nationallicence Inequality nationallicence Reference group nationallicence The Journal of Economic Inequality Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 9/1(2011-03-01), 111-127 1569-1721 9:1<111 2011 9 10888 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-010-9127-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-010-9127-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Van Praag Bernard Tinbergen Institute, University of Amsterdam, CESifo, IZA, DIW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- The Journal of Economic Inequality Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 9/1(2011-03-01), 111-127 1569-1721 9:1<111 2011 9 10888 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer