“New approaches to measuring welfare” (2023). Kristen Cooper, Mark Fabian, and Chris Krekel. Fiscal Studies, 44(2): 123-135. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-5890.12333.
“Measuring the Essence of the Good Life: The search continues for a better gauge of prosperity than GDP alone” (2021). Daniel Benjamin, Kristen Cooper, Ori Heffetz, and Miles Kimball. Finance & Development (IMF, December 2021). https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2021/12/Measuring-Essence-Good-Life-Benjamin-Cooper-Heffetz-Kimball.
“Limited Rationality and the Strategic Environment: Further Evidence from a Pricing Game.” Kristen B. Cooper, Henry S. Schneider, and Michael Waldman, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2021. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214804320306753
“Self-reported wellbeing indicators are a valuable complement to traditional economic indicators but aren’t yet ready to compete with them.” Daniel J. Benjamin, Kristen B. Cooper, Ori Heffetz, and Miles S. Kimball, Behavioral Public Policy, 2020, 4(2), 198-20. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioural-public-policy/issue/on-happiness-being-the-goal-of-government/A4CC3C1DD62F7C50F23E86D13FFFCFBA
“Ethanol Policies and Welfare under the Pre-existing Fuel and Labor Taxes.” Kristen B. Cooper and Dušan Drabik. Ekonomický časopis (Journal of Economics), 2019, 67(8): 791-810.
“A Well-Being Snapshot in a Changing World.” Daniel J. Benjamin, Kristen B. Cooper, Ori Heffetz, and Miles Kimball. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 2019, 109(5): 344-349. https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/apandp/v109y2019p344-49.html
“Limited rationality and the strategic environment: Further theory and experimental evidence.” Kristen B. Cooper, Henry S. Schneider, and Michael Waldman. Games and Economic Behavior, 2017, 106:188-208. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/games-and-economic-behavior/vol/106/suppl/C
“Challenges in Constructing a Survey-Based Well-Being Index.” Daniel J. Benjamin, Kristen B. Cooper, Ori Heffetz, and Miles Kimball. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 2017, 107(5): 1–5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5901737
“Consumer well-being in a future of accelerating novelty.” Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2017, 27(2): 315-335. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00191-015-0420-x.
Benjamin, Daniel, Kristen Cooper, Ori Heffetz, Miles Kimball, and Jiannan Zhou. 2023. “Adjusting for Scale-Use Heterogeneity in Self-Reported Well-Being.” NBER Working Paper w31728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. https://www.nber.org/papers/w31728.
Benjamin, Daniel, Kristen Cooper, Ori Heffetz, and Miles Kimball. 2023. “From Happiness Data to Economic Conclusions.” NBER Working Paper w31727, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. https://www.nber.org/papers/w31727.
“Quality or quantity? Income signaling and the consumption of durable visible goods”
Abstract: In this paper I theoretically and empirically study a model of durable goods consumption with status-seeking preferences. I extend a classic model of status signaling to incorporate a visible durable good stock with three attributes: quality, average item age, and stock size. “Newness” is an important feature of durable goods consumption, and I illustrate how the newness of a durable good stock, as captured by average item age, could be used as the status signal in a signaling equilibrium. The empirical implication of the model is that the income elasticities of demand for durable good attributes can be affected by the visibility of the durable good and which attribute is used to signal status. The net effect of a good’s visibility on its quality and quantity demand is an empirical question. I use Consumer Expenditure Survey data on the consumption of apparel goods which vary quasi-experimentally in visibility to measure the effect of visibility on consumption. I estimate consumers’ choices of quantity and quality to obtain estimates of the income elasticities of demand for quantity and quality by visibility category. I find that visibility is associated with an approximately three-fold increase in the elasticity of quantity with respect to income, but the effect of visibility on the elasticity of quality with respect to income is not significant. My empirical results suggest that quantity may be used more than quality as a status signal, if consumers use apparel consumption to signal income.