Effect of income inequality on life statisfaction based on World Value Survey, Solt’s World Income Inequality Database (SWIID, Solt 2016), the World Inequality Database (WID) and the World Bank, 1984-2014

Literature has established that, on a macroeconomic level, income inequality has a negative effect on average life satisfaction. An unresolved question is, however, which income groups are harmed by income inequality. In this paper we investigate this relationship at the microeconomic level combining national indicators of income inequality with individual data of life satisfaction from the World Values Survey for 39 countries over a period of 25 years.