Previous studies investigating the effect of income on subjective wellbeing (SWB) have seldom accounted for the role of sub-national regional developmental context in determining the absolute and relative income effect on individual SWB. Given the varying levels of socio-economic development across regions within a country, a priori expectations point to the income and SWB relationship being contingent on the regional context. This study was conducted in the South African context using the National Income Dynamics Study datasets and municipal panel data with multilevel regression models to account for both municipal and individual level characteristics. The study finds that both absolute and relative income are significant predictors of SWB in both the developed and underdeveloped contexts. The absolute income effect is muted in low socioeconomically developed context in comparison to their more developed counterparts, explained by a non-monetized system of production and consumption in the less developed contexts. However, the relative income gradient on individual SWB, was found to be stronger in less developed municipalities and is explained by much narrower but stronger reference group formation in less developed municipalities than in more developed ones.

以往调查收入对主观幸福感 (SWB) 影响的研究很少考虑地方区域发展背景在确定收入对个人 SWB 的绝对和相对影响方面的作用。鉴于一个国家内不同地区的社会经济发展水平不同，先验预期表明收入和 SWB 关系取决于地区背景。这项研究是在南非的背景下进行的，使用国民收入动态研究数据集和具有多级回归模型的市政面板数据来说明市政和个人级别的特征。该研究发现，绝对收入和相对收入都是发达国家和欠发达国家 SWB 的重要预测因素。与较发达的同行相比，在社会经济发展程度较低的情况下，绝对收入效应减弱，这可以用欠发达情况下的非货币化生产和消费系统来解释。然而，个人 SWB 的相对收入梯度被发现在欠发达城市更强，这是由于欠发达城市的参考群体形成比发达城市更窄但更强。