Dynamic Well-Being: Connecting Indicators of what People Anticipate with Indicators of what they Experience

Authors: Dolan, Paul¹; White, Mathew²

Source: Social Indicators Research, Volume 75, Number 2, January 2006 , pp. 303-333(31)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

There are many indicators of a person's well-being that could be used for policy purposes. Few would argue that any single indicator of well-being is appropriate in all contexts and, increasingly, social scientists are attempting to integrate the various indicators. Further successful integration depends on understanding how the various indicators of well-being relate to one another in a dynamic way. This paper attempts to connect indicators of what people anticipate to indicators of what is actually experienced and, in so doing, inform the normative debate about the appropriateness of different indicators in policy contexts.

Keywords: happiness; moment utility; predicted utility; social indicators; subjective well-being; remembered utility

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11205-004-6298-x

Affiliations: 1: Email: P.Dolan@shef.ac.uk 2: Email: m.p.white@shef.ac.uk

Publication date: 2006-01-01