Most prior research on the relationship between relative attainment and subjective wellbeing focuses on relative income. The direction of this relationship may, however, be positive or negative. Defining the target comparison group can be challenging. This study focuses on a sample where `relative others? are especially salient ? Olympic athletes ? and investigates relative achievement using a different `currency? ? medals. While prior research shows that bronze are happier than silver medallists, we find no difference unless there is a relatively close race at the bottom of the podium in the competition between silver, bronze, and fourth. A nuanced distributional approach can be used to explore marginal rank effects. ? 2021 Elsevier Inc.

---

1 December 2021

---

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 952021

---

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2021.101761

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214804321001014

This Journal article is published under the centre's Community Wellbeing programme.