Americans have a peculiar conviction that the one thing money can't give us is satisfaction.You can't buy happiness, we've all been told. "Mo Money Mo Problems" , Biggie concurred. And while we can all agree that desperate poverty is hideous, there is a broadly held view that after a certain level of income (around $75,000, say), more money doesn't buy more well-being.
But it's just not so. Economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers have been arguing for years that, yes, richer families tend to be happier, and no, there is not an automatic cut-off point. In other words: Mo money, fewer problems .
Their elegant and straightforward new paper can be nicely summed up in the two graphs below. The first graph looks at income groups within countries. In all nations surveyed, richer households reported more life satisfaction. (Statistical note: This graph is logarithmic. That means doubling your income from $1,000 to $2,000 raises satisfaction by the same amount as doubling your income from $10,000 to $20,000. You can imagine why this might make a good theoretical case for income redistribution
.)
The next graph compares different countries, rather than different households within countries. Here, each circle represents a nation, with the richest ones clustered on the right. If extra income didn't matter for well-being, you'd expect the line to flatten. Instead, it steepens. More money doesn't just mean happier families. It means happier countries.
But Biggie was ontosomething. Even though the United States seems to score the highest in life satisfaction in the first graph, other studies have suggested an overall flat-lining of happiness here. Economist Daniel Kahneman found that people earning above $75,000 "do not appear to enjoy either more positive affect nor less negative affect than those earning just below that," Stevenson and Wolfers report. In a past paper , the duo found that, although the U.S economy had doubled in size since the early 1970s,overallwell-being has declined.
Stevenson and Wolfers' two-part explanation could be summed up as, well,mo money, mo problems. Those problems would be social turmoil (such as the rise of single-parent households) and income inequality, which they suggested could act as a tax on self-reported satisfaction, counteracting the effects of rising total income.
That's not a reason to stop reaching for policies that grow the pie. But it might be a reason to consider better policies to divide it so that more reaches the poorest families.
http://us.m.yahoo.com/w/ygo-frontpage/lp/story/us/3224036/coke.bp%3B_ylt=A2KLt8P05X9R1TwAoyQp89w4%3B_ylu=X3oDMTFzYjJyNThhBGNwb3MDMgRjc2VjA21vYmlsZS10ZARpbnRsA3VzBHBrZwNpZC0zMjI0MDM2BHBvcwMxBHNsawN0aHVtYg--?ref_w=frontdoors&.lang=en&.ysid=i_0rf3quOhLzjl6V4._AiQUv&.intl=us

I think a lot of factors go into 'happiness', its really not as simple as it looks to compare US with other western countries because our political and socioeconomic culture is relatively unique compared to them. Without even looking at this chart, I can predict that happier countries may be showing more income, but they also are countries which policies lean towards the community looking after its members, from public healthcare access, to policies and laws which reel in things like bigoted speech or general manufacturing differences where health is as big a concern as profit, to assistance for parents,,, and many other differences.

That is to say, I think the difference is that the have nots in those western countries don't have to feel or be treated like trash, they are able to keep their esteem and respect, which helps to nourish 'happiness' and the general environment promotes better health.

Those cultures may just be starting with more of a 'happy' environment to live in to begin with.

How do you measure happiness?

If you have a capitalist system that tells people that if you have money then you can have a happy and fulfilling life then it's hardly surprising that surveys are going to reflect that.

I do not think money buys happiness but I think it enables you to position yourself to enjoy life more. Traveling, helping others etc.

money definitely increases happiness to the poinnt where you can say it's buying happiness. when i was a broke college student i was depressed. now that my loans are paid off and ihave a home and a career and have the freedom to do what i want whenever i want i couldn't be happier. yes money buys happiness.

we make our own happiness, but , money is an avenue towards the resources and networks that give us a sense of 'freedom', which we are taught is synonmmous with happiness

If money doesn't buy happiness
I would choose to be a little more unhappy

I don't love mountains
And I don't love the sea
And I don't love Jesus
He never done a thing for me
I ain't pretty like my sister
Or smart like my dad
Or good like my mama

It's Money That I Love
It's Money That I Love

They say that's money
Can't buy love in this world
But it'll get you a half-pound of cocaine
And a sixteen-year old girl
And a great big long limousine
On a hot September night
Now that may not be love
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/its-money-that-i-love-lyrics-randy-newman.html ]
But it is all right

One, two
It's Money That I Love
Wanna kiss you Three, four
It's Money That I Love

Used to worry about the poor
But I don't worry anymore
Used to worry about the black man
Now I don't worry about the black man
Used to worry about the starving children of India
You know what I say about the starving children of India ?
I say, "Oh mama"

It's Money That I Love
It's Money That I Love
It's Money That I Love



Read more: RANDY NEWMAN - IT'S MONEY THAT I LOVE LYRICS

It all depends on what you want to make you happy.

Money can get you a way of life, material things, and a lot of prestige. And if that is all that it takes to make one happy then it does its job.

But there will always be things money can't buy, money can't fix, and money can't change.

very well said,,,

Money doesn't buy happiness...it affords you choices. Access to education, experiences and sometimes it opens doors that would otherwise be closed to you.

But as Jim Carrey so aptly put it ... “I hope everybody could get rich and famous and will have everything they ever dreamed of, so they will know that it's not the answer.”

A lack of money, however, can certainly be a catalyst for stress and worry which can be happiness snuffers if you allow it.

Money is wonderful but it is just a tool not a solution.

Also by Randy Newman

Of all of the people that I used to know
Most never adjusted to the great big world
I see them lurking in book stores
Working for the Public Radio
Carrying their babies around in a sack on their back
Moving careful and slow

(Chorus)
It's money that matters
Hear what I say
It's money that matters
In the USA

All of these people are much brighter than I
In any fair system they would flourish and thrive
But they barely survive
They eke out a living and they barely survive

When I was a young boy, maybe thirteen
I took a hard look around me and asked what does it mean?
So I talked to my father, and he didn't know
And I talked to my friend and he didn't know
And I talked to my brother and he didn't know
And I talked to everybody that I knew
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/its-money-that-matters-lyrics-randy-newman.html ]

(Chorus)
It's money that matters
Now you know that it's true
It's money that matters
Whatever you do

Then I talked to a man lived up on the county line
I was washing his car with a friend of mine
He was a little fat guy in a red jumpsuit
I said "You look kind of funny"
He said "I know that I do"

"But I got a great big house on the hill here
And a great big blonde wife inside it
And a great big pool in my backyard and another great big pool
beside it
Sonny it's money that matters, hear what I say
It's money that matters in the USA
It's money that matters
Now you know that it's true
It's money that matters whatever you do"

And finally by Randy Newman, just because

Gonna take off my pants
Gonna take off my pants
Gonna take off my pants
Gonna take off my pants
And your mama can't stop me
And your papa can't stop me
And the police can't stop me
No one can stop me
Gonna do it right now
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/pants-lyrics-randy-newman.html ]
Gonna do it right now
I'm gonna take off my pants
Gonna take off my pants
And your teachers can't stop me
And your priests can't stop me
And your firemen can't stop me
And the President can't stop me
Will you take off my pants?
Will you take off my pants?


Read more: RANDY NEWMAN - PANTS LYRICS

I Agree!

yeah you can't buy happiness it helps though

No sense typing. Just double what she said.

I did not know Jim Carey said that though...interesting, because I was aware that he has also lived in poverty. The man knows both sides of the coin.

I've bin a pawn I've bin a King I've bin a pawn again

Knowledge is power ,but money is freedom

Fact: " money is one three forums of happiness but the problem with this forum as the happiness

Is usually sort live

General happiness would be that your just in a good place in your live, no stress, good friends

well liked,


Then you would have the happiness of been needed, ...raising a family

Happiness is an illusion.

money is not an illusion

given that I am pretty nonillusive and into the tangibles in life, and for lack of other options, I'll take the money