Wednesday, January 15, 2025
1/15/2025
RESEARCH PLAN – Summary/Abstract This project develops and applies methods to compare the overall personal well-being of different individuals using answers to survey questions asking respondents to rate many aspects of well-being. Comparing well-being across individuals and groups is a crucial input to many scientific endeavors: (1) using cross-sectional data to study the determinants of well-being or to study changes in well-being over the life course, (2) studying inequality in well-being, which in turn is necessary for aggregating personal well-being into a measure of social welfare, and (3) quantifying the extent of group advantage or disadvantage when nonmarket goods are taken into account. Two key issues arise in comparing overall personal well-being between individuals (or groups): first, different individuals may use the reporting scale differently; second, being able to compare any pair of individuals A and B requires being able to make an assessment of who has higher overall personal well-being when A has a higher level of some aspects of well- being, but B has a higher level of other aspects of well-being. Specific Aim 1 addresses scale-use differences: Develop and validate methods to compare the levels of self-reported aspects of well-being, such as emotions, pain, and perceived capabilities in daily life, across individuals and across groups in a way that adjusts for systematic differences in response styles and self-report biases. Specific Aim 2 addresses the question of how to deal with comparisons when one individual has higher levels of some aspects of well-being, while the other individual has higher levels of other aspects of well-being: Develop the theoretical foundation for a new interpersonally-comparable well-being measure, consistent with the equivalence approach in welfare theory, and adapted to use empirically with multidimensional subjective well-being measures (in conjunction with the scale-use-correction methods in Specific Aim 1). Specific Aim 3 involves data collection, empirical analysis, and theory to apply these methods to studying changes in well-being over time and over the life course: To better understand the patterns of, and reasons for, the movement of different aspects of well-being over the life course, collect two waves of highly multi-dimensional data on self- reported aspects of well-being along with questions for scale-use correction (see Specific Aim 1), on a survey that provides a rich trove of complementary data. Develop a theoretical framework for these measures in an economic model of life-cycle behavior that includes a wide variety of activities, investment decisions, and life circumstances. Apply the data in this framework to test new and existing theories about the determinants of well-being over the life course, why existing research finds a mid-life trough in the levels of many aspects of well-being, and how to distinguish permanent from transitory inequality in well-being.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).