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Christian Pfeifer
 
''Life satisfaction and the consumption values of partners and friends: Empirical evidence from German panel survey data''
( 2013, Vol. 33 No.4 )
 
 
This empirical research note uses a large-scale household panel survey for Germany to assess the consumption values of partners and friends. For this purpose, reported individual life satisfaction (as proxy for utility) is regressed on being in a partnership, on the number of friends, on the net household income, and on other covariates. The results of pooled and fixed effects regressions indicate sizeable consumption values for partnerships and friends of several ten thousands Euros per year in terms of net household income. The estimated consumption values are significantly smaller when taking non-linearity (decreasing marginal utility) of household income into account.
 
 
Keywords: friends, happiness, partnership, social relationship, utility, well-being
JEL: I3 - Welfare and Poverty: General
D1 - Household Behavior: General
 
Manuscript Received : Nov 22 2013 Manuscript Accepted : Dec 30 2013

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