4 ms·

>Gallup question wording: “Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top. Suppose we say that the top of the ladder repr

by rattray 14y ago

>Gallup question wording: “Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top. Suppose we say that the top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you, and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time, assuming that the higher the step the better you feel about your life, and the lower the step the worse you feel about it? Which step comes closest to the way you feel?” This doesn't seem to me like a good measure of well-being, but rather a measure of how well people can tell what their income is relative to their peers. If I see much richer people than myself all the time I'll assume I'm halfway down the ladder. That doesn't mean I'm actually unhappy, just that when I look around, I think I could probably be happier.

textminer 14y ago
And even if you only see a few people richer than you, in a place with a high Gini coefficient, they're probably much richer than you. Human brains like to linearly extrapolate, so you probably assume that that non-linear explosion in growth doesn't mean you're 98 to their 99, but that you must be 80 or so.
greggman 14y ago
I had that experience living abroad. I lived in a city, Tokyo, (though I believe Shanghai, HK and SG are all similar) where the majority of foreigners are "expats" where expat = Person sent to foreign country by their homeland company and given a benefit package that includes reproducing their homeland lifestyle in the foreign country. I was not an expat by the definition above. I was paying $1k a month for studio apt, sleeping on the floor. No complaints. But, 95% of all services directed at foreigners in those countries are targeting the expats so anytime I'd pick up a magazine or browsed a website targeted at foreigners I'd see ads for tons of things 5x to 10x out of my reach. Lots of companies pushing apartments starting at $4k a month and up. Companies for investing. Dating services that expected their clients to have a salary of $200k+. Etc... The point being, I was not unhappy until seeing all these ads made me feel like I was at the bottom of the heap instead of above average as I had felt before I came.

by rattray 14y ago

textminer 14y ago

And even if you only see a few people richer than you, in a place with a high Gini coefficient, they're probably much richer than you. Human brains like to linearly extrapolate, so you probably assume that that non-linear explosion in growth doesn't mean you're 98 to their 99, but that you must be 80 or so.

greggman 14y ago

I had that experience living abroad. I lived in a city, Tokyo, (though I believe Shanghai, HK and SG are all similar) where the majority of foreigners are "expats" where expat = Person sent to foreign country by their homeland company and given a benefit package that includes reproducing their homeland lifestyle in the foreign country. I was not an expat by the definition above. I was paying $1k a month for studio apt, sleeping on the floor. No complaints. But, 95% of all services directed at foreigners in those countries are targeting the expats so anytime I'd pick up a magazine or browsed a website targeted at foreigners I'd see ads for tons of things 5x to 10x out of my reach. Lots of companies pushing apartments starting at $4k a month and up. Companies for investing. Dating services that expected their clients to have a salary of $200k+. Etc... The point being, I was not unhappy until seeing all these ads made me feel like I was at the bottom of the heap instead of above average as I had felt before I came.