title: Can Marginal Rates of Substitution Be Inferred From Happiness Data? Evidence from Residency Choices.
abstract: We survey 561 students from U.S. medical schools shortly after they submit choice rankings over residencies to the National Resident Matching Program. We elicit (a) these choice rankings, (b) anticipated subjective well-being (SWB) rankings, and (c) expected features of the residencies (such as prestige). We find substantial differences between choice and anticipated-SWB rankings in the implied tradeoffs between residency features. In our data, evaluative SWB measures (life satisfaction and Cantril's ladder) imply tradeoffs closer to choice than does affective happiness (even time-integrated), and as close as do multi-measure SWB indices. We discuss implications for using SWB data in applied work.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Cornell University, 480 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 and National Bureau of Economic Research.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Benjamin
authors.affiliation: S. C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, 324 Sage Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 and National Bureau of Economic Research.
authors.forename: Ori
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Heffetz
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Michigan, 312 Lorch Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 and National Bureau of Economic Research.
authors.forename: Miles S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kimball
authors.affiliation: Cornell University and National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rees-Jones
keywords: choice; happiness; life satisfaction; marginal rate of substitution; preference; revealed preference; subjective well-being; utility