Money Does Buy Happiness, Study Finds

The Beatles might not have cared all that much about money, but that was only because what they were looking for was love. Thus, according to a report pieced together by two University of Michigan professors, money is unlikely to buy love, but it can surely buy happiness. And a heck lot of it, for that matter. Previous studies have shown that, once an individual can afford to satisfy their most basic needs, having more money no longer translates into more happiness.

However, this new report makes a case of how, regardless of how much money a person makes at a given point in time, having more of it will only add to their feelings of satisfaction.

“Many scholars have argued that once 'basic needs' have been met, higher income is no longer associated with higher in subjective well-being,” professors Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson write in their paper.

“The relationship between well-being and income is roughly linear-log and does not diminish as incomes rise. If there is a satiation point, we are yet to reach it,” the economists go on to argue.

Huffington Post informs us that said professors have reached the conclusions that money can in fact buy happiness and that there is no such thing as having too much money following their analyzing data concerning the income and life satisfaction of people living in 155 countries.

By the looks of it, rich households in each of these countries were found to have more life satisfaction than those whose incomes were lower.

As well as this, the professors have discovered that, all things considered, richer countries are happier than poor ones.

To put it in a nutshell, this study makes a case against the idea that there is such a thing as a so-called satiation point (i.e. a certain income level after which happiness plateaus regardless of how much money a person makes).

“If more money was not associated with more happiness, we would stop working. Every time we doubled income, we get the same increase in well-being,” professor Justin Wolfers reportedly told members of the press.