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<p>It is widely believed that individuals’ income positions and subjective well-being (SWB) are correlated. Yet, such correlation may depend on a perceived income position and may vanish once individuals learn their true income position. In this study, individuals were informed of their income position in a tailor-made Internet survey to examine its effect on their SWB. Comparing respondents’ SWB before knowing their true income position with their SWB after knowing it, I found that a higher income position leads to an increase in SWB. However, after dividing the sample into high- and low-income inequality groups based on where respondents resided, the positive effect of income position is only observed in the low-income inequality group. Furthermore, the positive effect in the low-income inequality group disappeared if the respondents had a high inclination to reciprocity.</p>

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Inequality, Social Ladder, and Subjective Well-being: Effect of Learning Income Position

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月27日

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  • Eiji Yamamura

摘要

It is widely believed that individuals’ income positions and subjective well-being (SWB) are correlated. Yet, such correlation may depend on a perceived income position and may vanish once individuals learn their true income position. In this study, individuals were informed of their income position in a tailor-made Internet survey to examine its effect on their SWB. Comparing respondents’ SWB before knowing their true income position with their SWB after knowing it, I found that a higher income position leads to an increase in SWB. However, after dividing the sample into high- and low-income inequality groups based on where respondents resided, the positive effect of income position is only observed in the low-income inequality group. Furthermore, the positive effect in the low-income inequality group disappeared if the respondents had a high inclination to reciprocity.