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Reference group consumption and the subjective wellbeing of the poor in Peru

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  • Guillen-Royo, Monica
Abstract
This paper studies the relationship between the consumption of the reference group and people's subjective wellbeing in seven poor Peruvian communities. It presents an empirical analysis of the importance of relative consumption for people's feelings of adequacy in five consumption domains (food, housing, education, clothes and health care). Against the assumption that relative consumption only matters for the rich and drawing on recent empirical work in Latin America, the study hypothesises that participants are likely to be influenced by the level of consumption of the area where they live when evaluating their situation. The data come from two surveys implemented in 2004 and 2005 in Peru by the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD), ESRC research group at the University of Bath. The results indicate a negative effect of relative consumption on participants' appraisal of their households' clothes, housing and children's education. However, the study also shows that in domains linked to the need for physical health such as health care and food, appraisals are made based on households' objective situations and that the average consumption in the community does not play a significant role.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillen-Royo, Monica, 2011. "Reference group consumption and the subjective wellbeing of the poor in Peru," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 259-272, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:2:p:259-272
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    9. Ng, Yew-Kwang, 2018. "Ten rules for public economic policy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-42.
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    13. Alem, Yonas, 2013. "Relative Standing and Life-Satisfaction: Does Unobserved Heterogeneity Matter?," Working Papers in Economics 579, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    14. Jinan Zeidan, 2015. "Are Comparisons Luxuries? Subjective Poverty and Positional Concerns in Indonesia," AMSE Working Papers 1505, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    15. Yew-Kwang Ng, 2016. "Welfare-Reducing Growth And Cost-Benefit Analysis: Essay In Memory Of E.J. Mishan," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(03), pages 1-9, June.
    16. Leonardo Bargigli & Filippo Pietrini, 2023. "An agent based model of fads," Working Papers - Economics wp2023_01.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    17. Jaikumar, Saravana & Singh, Ramendra & Sarin, Ankur, 2018. "‘I show off, so I am well off’: Subjective economic well-being and conspicuous consumption in an emerging economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 386-393.
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    19. Dong Zhou & Langchuan Peng, 2018. "The Relationship Between the Gender Gap in Subjective Well-Being and Leisure Activities in China," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(7), pages 2139-2166, October.
    20. Jorge Guardiola & Monica Guillen-Royo, 2015. "Income, Unemployment, Higher Education and Wellbeing in Times of Economic Crisis: Evidence from Granada (Spain)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 395-409, January.
    21. Alem, Yonas, 2014. "Life-Satisfaction in Urban Ethiopia: The Role of Relative Poverty and Unobserved Heterogeneity," RFF Working Paper Series dp-14-04-efd, Resources for the Future.
    22. Jinan Zeidan, 2015. "Are Comparisons Luxuries? Subjective Poverty and Positional Concerns in Indonesia," Working Papers halshs-01114396, HAL.
    23. Muna Shifa & Murray Leibbrandt, 2018. "Relative Economic Position and Subjective Well-Being in a Poor Society: Does Relative Position Indicator Matter?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 611-630, September.
    24. Mukherjee, Srabanti & Datta, Biplab & Paul, Justin, 2020. "The phenomenon of purchasing second-hand products by the BOP consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

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