Tradeoffs in choice between risk and delay depend on monetary amounts

In Experiments 1 and 2, 25 and 48 college students made binary choices between hypothetical money amounts. In Part A, choices were between small amounts available with certainty and larger amounts ($10 to $10,000) available with risk. Choices in Part B were between immediate small amounts and delayed larger amounts. As money amount grew, risk aversion and delay aversion both changed but in opposite ways: Risk aversion grew but delay aversion shrank. Part C of Experiment 1 pitted risky amounts against delayed amounts, and its results were consistent with those of Parts A and B. Equivalences of particular risks and delays depended on the particular monetary amounts to which they attached. In Experiment 3, 20 college students made binary choices between money amounts, knowing that they would actually receive some of the selections they made. In Part A, choices were between certain small amounts and risky larger amounts ($1 and $10). Choice problems in Part B were between immediate small amounts and delayed receipt of $1 or $10. The results were like those of Experiment 1, though weaker. These results argue against models of choice that posit an equivalence of risk and delay that is independent of monetary amount.     

Which types of income matter most for well‐being in China: Absolute,relative or income aspirations?

China has experienced remarkable economic growth, but that has not been associated with increases in individual well‐being, implying that well‐being may not be sensitive to increases in absolute income (AI). Thus, the relationship between well‐being and other types of income is worth investigating. This study employed a national sample of 5471 respondents from 31 provinces of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) to compare the effects of AI, relative income (RI) and income aspirations (IA) on individual well‐being in China. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis found that, compared to AI and RI, IA explained more variation in well‐being. These findings highlight the importance of IA for well‐being among the Chinese.     

ROLE OF FIRST‐YEAR MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT IN BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN

Drawing on economic models of child development and attachment relationship perspectives, this study examined the effect of maternal employment in the first year after childbirth on subsequent behavioral and cognitive development in low‐income children. Analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 411) revealed that despite the accompanying family income gains, maternal employment in the first year after childbirth adversely affected caregiver‐reported internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of Hispanic, Black, and White children at ages 3 and 5 years. This study also examined how paternal participation in childcare might affect children's outcomes. Results indicate that greater paternal participation eased the adverse impacts of maternal employment on internalizing behavior problems. There was no evidence that maternal employment was associated with children's memory cognitive functioning or that paternal involvement moderated children's cognitive development. These findings suggest that when early intervention programs are designed to assist low‐income families, enhancing supports (e.g., paternal involvement or parental leave) for working mothers during their child's first year may be valuable for young children's healthy development.     

Happiness and Domain Satisfaction in Taiwan

Happiness and life satisfaction are two empirically correlated but nobreak conceptually different measures of well-being. As an emotional state, happiness is sensitive to sudden changes in mood, whilst satisfaction is regarded as a cognitive or judgmental state. Using estimations from two empirical models, the aim of this study is to examine the determinants of happiness and satisfaction amongst nobreak Taiwanese people in a number of life domains. First of all, we attempt to investigate the individual characteristics of happiness by using an ordered probit model. Secondly, using ordinary least squares, we include an individual's value or attitude variables as nobreak determinants of the level of satisfaction with different life domains.Our results suggest that higher income is associated with a higher level of subjective well-being. Measures of comparison income are significantly negatively correlated with the reported level of happiness and job satisfaction, which supports the hypothesis that well-being depends on income relative to a reference group. Consistent with the results from other countries, married people report a higher degree of happiness and satisfaction, whilst the past experience of unemployment significantly reduces subjective well-being. There is little gender difference in happiness or satisfaction with different domains. Furthermore, individual's personal values have strong effects on both marital satisfaction and job satisfaction. The findings of this paper confirm that the effects of personal characteristics are fundamentally different in terms of happiness and satisfaction with specific domains of life.     

Personal Income and Subjective Well-being: A Review

Conventional wisdom holds that money has little relevance to happiness. This review will demonstrate quite the opposite is true and will argue that case using the Homeostatic Theory of Subjective Well-Being (SWB). Homeostatic theory proposes that SWB is held within a narrow range determined by personality. Experience with the environment also impacts on this system but its influence is attenuated by two sets of buffers. The internal buffers comprise beliefs in perceived control, self-esteem, and optimism. The external buffers comprise resources, such as personal assistance, that ameliorate the impact of potentially negative events. This model predicts significantly different levels of SWB for people who are rich, people on average Western incomes, and people who are poor. Data are provided that support this prediction. It is concluded that money buys happiness to the extent that external resources permit optimal functioning of the SWB homeostatic system.     

A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of the Association Between Family Income and Offspring Conduct Problems

The study presents a quasi-experimental analysis of data on 9,194 offspring (ages 4–11 years old) of women from a nationally representative U.S. sample of households to test the causal hypotheses about the association between family income and childhood conduct problems (CPs). Comparison of unrelated individuals in the sample indicated a robust inverse association, with the relation being larger at higher levels of income and for male offspring, even when statistical covariates were included to account for measured confounds that distinguish different families. Offspring also were compared to their siblings and cousins who were exposed to different levels of family income in childhood to rule out unmeasured environmental and genetic factors confounded with family income as explanations for the association. In these within-family analyses, boys exposed to lower family income still exhibited significantly higher levels of CPs. When considered in the context of previous studies using different designs, these results support the inference that family income influences CPs, particularly in males, through causal environmental processes specifically related to earnings within the nuclear family. This research was supported by grant R01-MH070025 to Benjamin B. Lahey. The research was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Indiana University. Resubmitted to the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology on April 21, 2008 and October 20, 2008.     

“新农合”对农民收入公平性的影响研究

利用卫生经济学中的洛伦茨曲线和基尼系数分析河南省"新农合"试点县农民收入公平性的变化,评价"新农合"筹资、补偿以及医疗费用负担对农民收入公平性的影响。为新农合的推广和发展提供政策建议,使"新农合"这一中国特色的医疗保障模式为农民更好的服务。     

Financial aspirations,financial success,and overall life satisfaction: who? and how?

Nickerson et al. (2003, Psychological Science 14, pp. 531–536) demonstrated in a longitudinal study that the negative relation between aspirations for financial success and subjective well-being found by other researchers was mitigated by high household income. The present study first refined the analysis in Nickerson et al. (2003) and then explored two additional issues: (a) who aspires to financial success? and (b) how is financial success achieved? Analysis indicated that individuals with strong financial aspirations are socially inclined, confident, ambitious, politically conservative, traditional, conventional, and relatively less able academically, but not psychologically distressed. Financial success is achieved via the job and, for women only, via marriage. Financial aspirations influence job income both by influencing choice of occupation and by influencing job income within occupation; however, achieving financial success depends on having the personal resources to do so. Women with strong financial aspirations tend to marry for money (or money-making potential) regardless of their work status; men with strong financial aspirations do not.     

Income and Satisfaction in Russia

The Russian Federation has undergone some drastic economic, social-cultural, and political changes since 1989. The income of nearly half of the population has sunk below the poverty line, which has had an enormous impact on their emotional life. In this study, the relationship between income and satisfaction in Russia was examined. Three theories – need, comparison, and personality theory – were considered. Data were drawn from the first three waves of the Russet panel study (1993–1995). Russians were a little more satisfied with their income and life when they had a higher income. A positive change in income caused an increase in income-satisfaction over a one-year period. Results also showed that there was a reciprocal relationship between income-satisfaction and life satisfaction, indicating that in addition to bottom-up effects, top-down mechanisms were also at work: life satisfaction is partly a sum of domain satisfactions, but it also reflects a more trait-like character. Furthermore, within comparison theory, social comparison had the largest effect on income-satisfaction, closely followed by income needed (person-environment fit theory), and income deserved (equity theory) with the smallest effect. The need effect of income on income-satisfaction became non-significant when controlled for these three comparison mechanisms. Correction for measurement error of relationships between the endogenous variables resulted in overall stronger effects.