Neighbors' Income, Public Goods and Well-Being

Abel Brodeur and Sarah Flèche

No 1719E, Working Papers from University of Ottawa, Department of Economics

Abstract: How does neighbors' income affect individual well-being? Our analysis is based on rich US local data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which contains information on where respondents live and their self-reported well-being. We find that the effect of neighbors' income on individuals' self-reported well-being varies with the size of the neighborhood included. In smaller areas such as ZIP codes, we find a positive relationship between median income and individuals' life satisfaction, whereas it is the opposite at the county, MSA and state levels. We provide evidence that local public goods and local area characteristics such as unemployment, criminality and poverty rates drive the association between satisfaction and neighbors' income at the ZIP code level. The neighbors' income effects are mainly concentrated among poorer individuals and are as large as one-quarter the effect of own income on self-reported well-being.

Keywords: neighbors' income; public goods; amenities; relative deprivation; well-being. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 J01 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-ure
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Related works:
Journal Article: Neighbors' Income, Public Goods, and Well‐Being (2019)
Working Paper: Neighbors' Income, Public Goods, and Well‐Being (2019)
Working Paper: Neighbors' income, public goods, and well‐being (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ott:wpaper:1719e

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