This paper examines whether intergenerational transmission of happiness exists in China between preadolescents and their parents, and what factors are correlated with subjective well-being among them.

Objectives: We use a contingent valuation (CV) study of childhood asthma to discuss a central issue in designing CV studies of chronic illness—the need for a detailed, realistic scenario that minimizes confounding factors—and show how to address this issue. We apply our methodology to estimate households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in asthma morbidity.