Impact of Freedom of Choice on Income: An Evidence from Pakistan

Abstract

People make hundreds of economic decisions each day, from what they will eat or even to decide career move. Research advocates that human behavior is strongly affected by freedom given to him and those blocks avoid them to act in accordance to their interests. The current study under hand is an attempt to explore the impact of freedom of choice on household incomes. Study consumed World Value Survey data for the years 2012-2014 for Pakistan. A simple Linear Regression analysis was used to measure the psychological behaviors on decisions which further affects the income of households in Pakistan (N=1200 where Punjab=604, Sindh=278, KPK=168 and Balochistan=150 ). Here Income of an individual is taken as dependent variable and Socio-economic variables (Freedom of choice, Mistrust, Risk aversion, Creativity, Loneliness, Age, Gender, Employment level, No. of children) were taken as independent variables. Study revealed that freedom has a positive impact on income of an individual. It is also concluded by the research that persons with higher level of perceived decision freedom tend to be more resilient and ultimately finds best ways to increase his income level.