Abstract
We conducted an Internet survey in which respondents are directly asked the others to be compared and the average income of them. This paper explores (1) how the criteria to choose the others to be compared changes according to individual's characteristics, and (2) to what extent a self-reported measure of others' income varies according to different criteria to choose others to be compared. Exploiting a latent class analysis with covariates, empirical results firstly show that the different choices, especially based on“sex”and “age”, are emerged between own gender and age characteristics. Second, even after controlling for the effect of individuals'status and selection bias regarding choice of the others to be compared, it is found that a self- reported measure of others'income differs according to different criteria to compare others. In particular, he/she is likely to overestimate the other's income when one chooses the others to be compared based on “education”.
