Happiness research finds that inflation systematically and sizeably lowers reported individual well-being. In European
countries, the effect on happiness of a 1-percentage-point increase in unemployment is compensated by a 1.7-percentage point decrease in inflation.The relative size of inflation is thus smaller than in the "misery index,"which attaches equal weight to both percentage changes.
What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?
Author(s): Bruno S. Frey and Alois StutzerSource: Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Jun., 2002), pp. 402-435
通俗点说,就是经济学家利用微观数据,通过建立Ordered Probit模型估计出1%的失业率和1%的通胀率对幸福感有着不同程度的影响。所以痛苦指数=通胀率+失业率不够准确,前面应该加上各自的影响系数。