利用World Database of Happiness(Veenhoven, 2015)中1990年代和2000年代的資料，本文欲探討幸福感和所得不均及其他重要社經變數如絕對所得、醫療支出、貿易依存度、幸福感不均、社團參與程度、相互信任程度間的關係。此外，國家之間在文化、法令等各方面的許多差異可能都會對幸福感產生影響，但卻難以量化衡量。有別於既存文獻，本文分別採用國家分群及追蹤資料分析這兩種方式來控制這些異質性，俾便對幸福感與諸多重要社經變數之間的關係能夠有更嚴謹的檢視與完整的分析。證實結果除了證實所得不均的重要性之外，幸福感與所得不均兩者間的關係也會因估計方式的不同而有所差異。根據混合迴歸模型(pooled OLS) 的分析，幸福感和所得不均呈現顯著的正向關係。然而，國家分群後，高度發展國家的所得不均變得不顯著；但中低度發展國家的結果仍顯示兩者存在顯著的正相關。最明顯且有趣的是，追蹤資料分析的結果顯示，所得不均反而對幸福感有負向影響。整體而言，本文追蹤資料分析的結果傾向支持所得不均將伴隨比較心理的產生(Frey and Stutzer, 2003)，進而降低幸福感，而非社會階級流動的機會(Tomes, 1986; Ball, 2001)。

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