FRIDAY 5 JUNE

9.00-9.15

Registration

9.15-9.30

Introductory Remarks

9.30-10.45

Session 1: Happiness Studies

Andrew Oswald (Warwick University): Happiness and productivity

Claudia Senik (Paris School of Economics): Direct Evidence on Income Comparisons and their Welfare Effects

10.45-11.15

Coffee/Tea

11.15-13.00

Session 2: Theory

Matthew Rabin (University of California, Berkeley): Wealth, News, and Utility

Ed Hopkins (University of Edinburgh): Which Inequality?

Christian Ghiglino (University of Essex) : Keeping up with the neighbors: social interaction in a market economy

13.00-14.00

Lunch

14.00-15.45

Session 3: Experiments I

Lise Vesterlund (University of Pittsburgh): "Fundraising Rules of Thumb: The Influence of Inequity and Status."

Hyejin Ku (Florida State University): Incentive Effects of Inequality and Economic Development

Johannes Abeler (University of Nottingham): Gift Exchange and Workers' Fairness Concerns - When Equality Is Unfair

15.45-16.15

Coffee/Tea

16.15-18.00

Session 4: Social Comparisons

Bermard Van Praag (Universiteit Van Amsterdam): Subjective Income Inequality with Inclusion of a Reference Effect: An Evaluation of the Power of Social Policy

Luis Angeles (University of Glasgow): Adaptation or Social Comparison? The effects of income on happiness

Georgios A. Panos (University of Aberdeen): Satisfaction, Information and Comparison a Twice Relative Approach

19.00

Informal Buffet Dinner, Abden House (speakers and invited persons only)

SATURDAY 6 JUNE

9.00-10.45

Session 5: Field Experiments

Imran Rasul (University College London): Team Incentives: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Nagore Iriberri/Ghazala Azmat (Universitat Pompeu Fabra): The Importance of Relative Performance Feedback Information: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment using High School Students

Peter Werner (University of Cologne): Reference Points and Bonus Payments - Field Evidence

10.45-11.15

Coffee/Tea

11.15-13.00

Session 6: The Public Economics of Relative Concerns

Matti Tuomala (University of Tampere): Inherent inequality, relativity and optimal nonlinear income taxation

Leonardo Boncinelli (University of Siena): Redistribution and the Notion of Social Status

Felix FitzRoy (University of St. Andrews) Public Economics of Subjective Well-Being and Relative Income

13.00-14.00

Lunch

14.00-15.15

Session 7: Inequality – General Issues

Shlomo Yitzhaki (Hebrew University): Inequality Comparisons: The Role of Government and Demographic Structure

Richard Wilkinson (University of Nottingham): What Difference Does Inequality Make? 

15.15-15.45

Coffee/Tea 

15.45-17.30

Session 8: Evidence from Emerging Economies

Carol Graham (Brookings Institution): Inequality, Happiness, and Individual Attitudes about Upward Mobility: Some Evidence from Latin America (download tables)

Shang-Jin Wei (Columbia): Sex Ratio Imbalances Stimulate Savings Rates:  Evidence from the “Missing Women” in China

Xiaobo Zhang (IFPRI): Positional Spending and Status Seeking in Rural China

19.00

Conference Dinner (speakers and invited persons only)

SUNDAY 7 JUNE

9.15-11.00

Session 9: Experiments II

Aldo Rustichini (University of Cambridge): The nature of counter-factual emotions: envy with skill and luck

Ro'I Zultan (The Hebrew University): Treating Equals Unequally - Incentives in Teams, Workers' Motivation and Production Technology

Arnab K. Basu (College of William and Mary): Aversion to Poverty and Relative Deprivation?  An Experimental Analysis of Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Coffee

11.00-11.30

Coffee/Tea

11.30-12.45

Session 10: Incentives with Relative Concerns

Alexander Herzog-Stein (Institute of Economic and Social Research, WSI): Games of Status and Discriminatory Contracts

Abhijit Ramalingam (Indiana University): Endogenous” Relative Concerns: The Impact of Workers’
Characteristics on Status and Profits in the Firm

12.45-13.00

Concluding Remarks