Justin Wolfers

Justin Wolfers is an American- Australian economist. He is Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Life

Wolfers received his B.Sc. in economics in 1994 from the University of Sydney. In 2001 he earned the degree Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University. From 1995 to 2001 worked as Wolfers labor economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia. From 2001 to 2004 he was a professor at Stanford University. Since 2005 he is professor at the Wharton School.

Wolfers is in a relationship with Betsey Stevenson and has a daughter with her.

Work

Wolfers works in the research fields of Law and Economics, labor economics, social policy, political economy, behavioral economics and macroeconomics.

Happiness research

Wolfers operated in cooperation with Betsey Stevenson in happiness research. The two published a number of papers, which gave some attention to the media.

Relationship between income and happiness

Wolfers and Stevenson 2008 published a paper in which they question the Easterlin paradox. They analyzed all data on happiness and income in comparisons between rich and poor. Within a society, in comparisons between rich and poor countries, and in intertemporal comparisons It was found that the relationship between subjective happiness and income for intra-national, international and intertemporal comparisons is very similar. These results contradict those Easterlin, whose paradox is based on the assumption that intra-national comparisons would mean greater happiness differences as international or relative income is more important for satisfaction than absolute income. In countries such as Japan or Europe the subjective satisfaction grew along with the average per capita income. Also, the increase of happiness was greater when income growth was greater.

The publication led to several television and radio interviews and international press reactions.

Development of the distribution of happiness in the United States

In a paper published in 2008, Wolfers and Stevenson analyze the evolution of the distribution of happiness in the United States from 1972 to 2006. While the subjective satisfaction on average remained unchanged, their unequal distribution decreased significantly. The difference between black and white fell by two-thirds, and the difference between men and women disappeared completely. The link between education and satisfaction strengthened.

Paradox of declining satisfaction of women

In August 2009, the two published a paper that describes a decrease of the subjective satisfaction of women in the U.S. and Western Europe in the last 35 years. This decrease in absolute and also registered as compared to men as well as in various demographic groups. According to the survey were women in the 1970s happier than men, whereas today men are happier than women. Since the decline in satisfaction of women an improvement of many objective indicators faces (eg emancipation on the labor market and at home), the authors speak of a paradox.

The publication was a strong media coverage, particularly in the U.S. and UK, but also in many European countries.

Scientific Publications

  • " The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness" ( with Betsey Stevenson ), American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 1 ( 2), 190-255, August 2009.
  • "Using Markets to Inform Policy: . The Case of the Iraq War " (with Eric Zitzewitz ), Economica, 76 (302 ), 225-250, April 2009.
  • "Happiness Inequality in the United States " (with Betsey Stevenson ), Journal of Legal Studies, 37: s2, S33- S79, June 2008.
  • " Economic Growth and Happiness: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox " (with Betsey Stevenson ), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2008, 1-87 ( lead article ).
  • " The Promise of Prediction Markets " (with 21 coauthors ), Science, 320 877 May 16th, 2008.
  • " Prediction Markets in Theory and Practice " (with Eric Zitzewitz ), in Larry Blume and Steven Durlauf ( eds ): The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd ed (London: Palgrave ), 2008.
  • " Theories of the Favorite - Longshot Bias: A Review and New Evidence" ( with Erik Snow Mountain ), in William Ziemba and Don Hausch ( eds ): Handbook of Sports and Lottery Markets, ( Elsevier ), 2008.
  • " Prediction Markets: From Politics to Business ( and Back )" ( with Erik Snow Mountain and Eric Zitzewitz ), in William Ziemba and Don Hausch ( eds ): Handbook of Sports and Lottery Markets, ( Elsevier ), 2008.
  • " Marriage and Divorce: Changes and Their Driving Forces " (with Betsey Stevenson ), Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21 ( 2), 27-52, Spring 2007.
  • " Aggregate Shocks or Aggregate Information? Costly Information and Business Cycle Comovement "(with Laura Veldkamp ), the Journal of Monetary Economics, 54 (S1 ) 37-55, September 2007.
  • "Party Influence in Congress and the Economy " (with Erik Snow Mountain and Eric Zitzewitz ), Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 2 ( 3) 277-286, August 2007.
  • " Partisan Impacts on the Economy: Evidence from Prediction Markets and Close Elections " (with Erik Snow Mountain and Erik Zitzewitz ), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122 ( 2) 807-829, May 2007.
  • "Did Unilateral Divorce Raise Divorce Council? A Reconciliation and New Results, " American Economic Review, 96 (5) 1802-1820, December 2006.
  • " Competing Approaches to Forecasting Elections: Economic Models, Opinion Polling and Prediction Markets " (with Andrew Leigh ), Economic Record, 82 (258 ) 325-337, September 2006.
  • " Happiness and the Human Development Index: Australia is Not a Paradox " (with Andrew Leigh ), Australian Economic Review, 39 ( 2) 176-184, June 2006.
  • "Point Shaving: Corruption in NCAA Basketball ," American Economic Review, 96 ( 2) 279-283, May 2006.
  • " Diagnosing Discrimination: Stock Returns and CEO Gender", Journal of the European Economic Association, 4 ( 2/3) 531-541, May 2006.
  • " Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law: Divorce Laws and Family Distress " (with Betsey Stevenson ), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121 ( 1) 267-288, February 2006.
  • "Five Open Questions About Prediction Markets " (with Eric Zitzewitz ), in Robert Hahn and Paul Tetlock ( eds ): Information Markets: A New Way of Making Decisions in the Public and Private Sectors, (Washington DC: AEI - Brookings Press), 2006.
  • "Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in the Death Penalty Debate " (with John Donohue ), Stanford Law Review, 58 ( 3) 791-845, December 2005. Reprinted in Economics of Criminal Law, Steven D. Levitt and Thomas Miles ( eds ): ( Edward Elgar ), 2008 So. The Role of Social Science in Law, Elizabeth Merz (ed ) ( Aldershot: Ashgate ), 2008.
  • " Macroeconomic Derivatives: An Initial Analysis of Market -Based Macro Forecasts, Uncertainty and Risk ." ( With Refet Gürkaynak ), NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics, 2005 [ editorial ]
  • "Information (In) Efficiency in Prediction markets" ( with Erik Snow Mountain and Eric Zitzewitz ), in Leighton Vaughan Williams ( ed): Information Efficiency in Financial and Betting Markets, ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ), 2005.
  • " Prediction Markets " (with Eric Zitzewitz ), Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18 ( 2) 107-126, Spring 2004 In: . Futures Research Methodology Version 3.0, Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon ( eds ): (The Millennium Project, World Federation of UN Associations ), 2009.
  • " Prediction Markets: Does Money Matter" ( with Emile Servan- Schreiber, David Pennock and Brian Galebach ), Electronic Markets, 14 ( 3) 243-251, September 2004.
  • " Disagreement About Inflation Expectations " (with Gregory Mankiw and Ricardo Reis ), NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 18209-248, 2003.
  • " Is the Business Cycle Volatility Costly? Evidence from Surveys of Well -being ", International Finance, 6 ( 1) 1-26, Spring 2003. [ Editorial ]
  • "Three Tools for Forecasting Federal Elections: Lessons from 2001 " (with Andrew Leigh ), Australian Journal of Political Science, 37 ( 2) 223-240, July 2002.
  • " The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment " (with Olivier Blanchard), Economic Journal, 116 (510 ) 1-33, March 2000.
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