You’ve heard it a thousand times: Money doesn’t buy happiness. Yet in spite of this axiom (公理), people throughout history have tried mightily to accumulate riches. Are we suffering from some sort of collective delusion (错觉), or is it possible that money truly does buy happiness?
Let’s take the global view first. Compare Mexico and France. In Mexico, most people live above the level of subsistence (勉强糊口), but the average purchasing power is only about a third what it is in France. And yet Mexicans, as a whole, are happier than the French. In Mexico in 2002, 63 per cent of adults said they were very happy or completely happy. In France, only 35 per cent gave one of these responses.
Like nations, once individuals reach subsistence, they get little or no extra happiness as they get richer—even massively richer.
In a 1978 study, two psychologists interviewed 22 major lottery winners and found that the joy of sudden wealth wore off in a few months. They had a harder time than others enjoying life’s prosaic (平凡的) pleasures: watching television, shopping, talking with friends, and so forth.
The reason for this phenomenon is that humans tend to adapt psychologically to their circumstances—including their monetary ones—quickly. Economists call this the "hedonic treadmill".
One study shows that people report needing 40 per cent more to reach a level they consider sufficient. If you earn $50,000 per year, you’ll "need" $70,000. But if you get a raise and make $70,000, you’ll soon "need" about $98,000. The more you have, the more you find you need.
Some research appears to suggest that how much money we make is largely irrelevant to our happiness; it’s how much more we make than others that matters.
In one study involving faculty, staff, and students at Harvard, participants were asked to choose between earning $50,000 per year while everyone else made $25,000, or earning $100,000 per year while others made $200,000.
It was stipulated that price
Let’s take the global view first. Compare Mexico and France. In Mexico, most people live above the level of subsistence (勉强糊口), but the average purchasing power is only about a third what it is in France. And yet Mexicans, as a whole, are happier than the French. In Mexico in 2002, 63 per cent of adults said they were very happy or completely happy. In France, only 35 per cent gave one of these responses.
Like nations, once individuals reach subsistence, they get little or no extra happiness as they get richer—even massively richer.
In a 1978 study, two psychologists interviewed 22 major lottery winners and found that the joy of sudden wealth wore off in a few months. They had a harder time than others enjoying life’s prosaic (平凡的) pleasures: watching television, shopping, talking with friends, and so forth.
The reason for this phenomenon is that humans tend to adapt psychologically to their circumstances—including their monetary ones—quickly. Economists call this the "hedonic treadmill".
One study shows that people report needing 40 per cent more to reach a level they consider sufficient. If you earn $50,000 per year, you’ll "need" $70,000. But if you get a raise and make $70,000, you’ll soon "need" about $98,000. The more you have, the more you find you need.
Some research appears to suggest that how much money we make is largely irrelevant to our happiness; it’s how much more we make than others that matters.
In one study involving faculty, staff, and students at Harvard, participants were asked to choose between earning $50,000 per year while everyone else made $25,000, or earning $100,000 per year while others made $200,000.
It was stipulated that price
