Quantifying the wellbeing cost of inequality
How do inequalities in income lower average wellbeing? Caspar Kaiser shares insights through an empirical lens.
Quantifying the wellbeing cost of inequality
15 Jan 2025, 16:15 – 17:30
Greater incomes increase wellbeing. But this effect is not linear. Instead, income increases among the poor have greater effects than among the rich.
As has long been understood theoretically, inequalities in income may thereby lower average wellbeing. However, this insight has never been utilised empirically.
Caspar will explore the magnitude of this wellbeing ‘cost’ by estimating the curvature of the income-to-wellbeing relationship to predict the loss in average wellbeing due to inequality before converting this into monetary terms.
He will discuss how a sensibly implemented universal basic income could plausibly halve this loss.
Related links
- QSS and CLS seminar series
- Quantitative Social Science
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies
- Social Research Institute
Image
Money via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
Caspar Kaiser
Assistant Professor with the Behavioural Science Group
Warwick Business School
He is also a research fellow at Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Centre, a research associate at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, an associate member of Nuffield College, and a trustee of the Happier Lives Institute.
Further information
Ticketing
Pre-booking essential
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes
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