[单项选择]Knowing that you are paid less than your peers has two effects on happiness. The well-known one is negative: a thinner pay packet harms self-esteem. The lesser-known one is called the "tunnel" effect: high incomes for peers are seen as improving your own chances of similar riches, especially if growth, inequality and mobility are high.
A paper co-authored by Felix FitzRoy of the University of St. Andrews and recently presented at the Royal Economic Society in Cambridge separates the two effects using data from household surveys in Germany. Previous work showed that the income of others can have a small, or even positive, overall effect on people’s satisfaction in individual firms in Denmark or in very dynamic economies in transition, such as eastern Europe. But Mr. FitzRoy’s team theorized that older workers, who largely know their lifetime incomes already, will enjoy a much smaller tunnel effect.
The data confirm this hypothesis. The negative effect on reported levels of hap
A. The findings of previous work may be problematic.
B. The two effects of peers’ incomes on happiness cannot be separated.
C. Older workers are not affected by the income of others.
D. Older workers have already known their lifetime incomes.