Frustated achievers : winners, losers, and subjective well-being in Peru's emerging economy
By: GRAHAM, Carol
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Contributor(s): PETTINATO, Stefano.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks : SAGE, July 2006The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science 606, p. 128-153Abstract: The literature on subjective well-being has focused primarily on the developed economies. The authors provide empirical evidence from a developing country, Peru. Their resultsand in particular a strong negative skew in the assessments of the respondents with the greatest income gainssupport the importance of relative rather than absolute income differences. Among other factors, they attribute their results to shifts in reference norms and to macroeconomic volatility. Relative differences seem to matter more for those in the middle of the distribution than for the very wealthy or the very poor. Respondents were more critical in assessing their progress vis-à-vis others in their country versus those in their community. The frustrations that the authors find among the upwardly mobile may have implications for the future economic and political behavior of a group that is critical to the sustainability of market policies.
The literature on subjective well-being has focused primarily on the developed economies. The authors provide empirical evidence from a developing country, Peru. Their resultsand in particular a strong negative skew in the assessments of the respondents with the greatest income gainssupport the importance of relative rather than absolute income differences. Among other factors, they attribute their results to shifts in reference norms and to macroeconomic volatility. Relative differences seem to matter more for those in the middle of the distribution than for the very wealthy or the very poor. Respondents were more critical in assessing their progress vis-à-vis others in their country versus those in their community. The frustrations that the authors find among the upwardly mobile may have implications for the future economic and political behavior of a group that is critical to the sustainability of market policies.
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