A note on the relationship between television viewing and individual happiness Volume 3 Jena Economic Research Papers 2009-12-07 2009 2007 2009-098 Relational goods Subjective well-being TV consumption Happiness In a recently published article, Bruni and Stanca (2008) suggest that television viewing has a negative impact on life satisfaction. In this note we argue that the empirical approach they use (an approach that omits the main effect of TV viewing in life satisfaction) is problematic. We estimate a microeconomic life satisfaction function and find mixed support for the claim that television viewing in general has a negative impact on individual happiness. Using a large cross- country comparison we find that there is a substantial heterogeneity across countries, which needs to be taken into account when concluding about television’s effect on life satisfaction. jportal_jpjournal_00000016 2009-12-07T10:53:05.694Z 2010-12-17T11:54:12.573Z