Description:
This paper aims to contribute further research on the conceptualization of individual
financial satisfaction as a particular domain of satisfaction with life as a whole. Based
on the 2003 Survey on Living Conditions and Poverty for Andalucía (Spain) and using a
self-reported measure of welfare, ordered probit models are used to analyze the extent to
which individual financial satisfaction can be solely explained by income in absolute
terms, or alternatively, by taking into account the importance of relative income in its
two dimensions: (1) personal aspirations as individual’s adaptation to previous and
future income levels (intra-individual comparisons), and (2) social comparisons as
individual’s concern for her peer’s income (inter-personal dependency).