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- WASHINGTON — People who earn more money tend to experience more positive emotions focused on themselves, while people who earn less take greater pleasure in their relationships and ability to connect with others, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/12/earn-happinessHow much people earn is associated with how they experience ...
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May 26, 2020 · Studies have pinpointed the salary that people need for happiness, looked at why money doesn’t make us as happy as we expect and posited the ideal ways to spend your money to be happy. Here’s...
- Overview
- "Adversarial collaboration"
- "Rich and miserable"
It's a question that economists, psychologists and armchair philosophers have grappled with for centuries: Can money buy happiness?
Now, new research from a Nobel Prize-winning economist and fellow researchers provides a fresh answer. Money does appear to boost happiness — at least for most people — up to earnings of $500,000, according to the new paper published in this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
That contradicts earlier research from one of the economists involved in the new study, Daniel Kahneman, who in 2010 published an influential study with fellow Nobel Prize-winner Angus Deaton. The 2010 study found that money could only boost happiness up to a point — about $75,000 in annual earnings. Beyond that figure, the researchers concluded, money had little impact.
That notion that happiness tops out at $75,000 became so popular that Dan Price, the founder of credit card processor Gravity Payments, decided in 2015 to boost the minimum salaries of his employees to $70,000 — cutting his own salary to do so. The move brought him praise as an innovator and business leader in the process. (Price later stepped down after allegations of a pattern of abusing women.)
Yet new findings suggest that, for most people, happiness does improve with higher earnings — up to $500,000 a year. The research could have real-world implications for tax policies or compensation strategies, co-author Matthew Killingsworth of the University of Pennsylvania said in a statement about the latest findings.
"In the simplest terms, this suggests that for most people larger incomes are associated with greater happiness," Killingsworth noted.
The new study stems from a process called "adversarial collaboration," or when researchers with conflicting findings seek to resolve their dispute through joint research.
In this case, Kahneman paired up with Killingsworth after the latter's research contradicted his 2010 findings.
With co-author Barbara Mellers, also of the University of Pennsylvania, they ran a new experiment, asking 33,391 working U.S. adults with a median household income of $85,000 to answer questions about their sense of well-being.
Their new findings suggest that, for most people, happiness does improve with higher earnings, up to $500,000 a year — although participants above that income were "quite rare," providing a lack of comprehensive data for that group, the study notes.
Yet there is a smaller group of people for whom higher incomes don't make much of a difference, the researchers found. For this "unhappy group," comprising about 15% of people, the relationship between happiness and income is different, with additional money failing to improve their sense of well-being once they've hit $100,000 in annual earnings, according to the study.
These people may be suffering from life events that overwhelm any improvement that money might bring, the researchers posited.
"This income threshold may represent the point beyond which the miseries that remain are not alleviated by high income," Kahneman, Killingsworth and Mellers wrote. "Heartbreak, bereavement, and clinical depression may be examples of such miseries."
Or, as Killingsworth said in the statement, "[I]f you're rich and miserable, more money won't help."
On the flip side, the "happiest 30% experience feelings of well-being that sharply accelerate once they earn over $100,000, the study found.
That doesn't mean that money can solve all one's problems, Killingsworth said. And indeed, other research into the science of happiness has found that other aspects of life, from community to hobbies, has a measurable impact on contentment.
May 31, 2022 · Does having more money make someone feel happier? The answer to this longstanding question has implications for how individuals live their lives and societies are structured.
- Laura Kudrna, Kostadin Kushlev
- Front Psychol. 2022; 13: 883137.
- 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.883137
- 2022
Jun 18, 2015 · Every so often a new study claims to have quantified the link between money and happiness. However, studies that examine this relationship with one’s employer are harder to find. In this post, we’ll explore whether or not higher salaries make for more satisfied employees, and if not, what factors contribute to overall employee satisfaction.
Mar 20, 2017 · Finally, while pay is important, certain non-monetary aspects of employment matter too: factors like autonomy and work-life balance can influence how happy you feel.
Jan 28, 2022 · A Global Look at the Connections Between Happiness, Income, and Meaning. Wealthy people may be happier. But a new study finds that money can’t buy a sense of purpose. January 28, 2022. | by Rebecca Beyer. Researchers found a link between money, meaning, and happiness across more than 120 countries. | iStock/MundusImages. “Humans think ...
Jul 23, 2024 · Studies suggest that beyond a certain income threshold—often cited around $75,000 to $100,000 annually—the additional happiness gains from extra income begin to level off. A boost in salary can make a big difference if you are struggling with basic needs.
