

Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/16leonhardt.html?ex=1365998400&en=bdbfd2384c50f811&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

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mixmax
Easterlin's classica paper asserts that happiness is not related to the total
amount of money you own, but rather to the amount of money you own compared to
those around you. The new rebuttal of the theory that this article is about
claims that new polling methods have made it easier to get correct answers -
and that these do not match the classical theory. The accompanying map shows a
clear correlation between a country's GDP per capita and average life
satisfaction.

The study, however, is flawed.

What they fail to take into account is that the Easterlin study was made in
the 70's when poor countries weren't exposed to the lifestyles of richer
countries through media such as television and the Internet. Today even the
poorest countries have lots of communication with the outside world. According
the CIA world fact book around 20% of Albanias population was online in 2006.
And almost everyone had access to television. What this means is that the
population in poor countries can see what life is like in Beverly Hills, and
see the western lifestyle as their "peers"

So the paradox holds - information technology has just made it obvious to the
poor countries how poor they really are.

Correlation does not equal causation....

~~~
ardit33
Hey, I actually am from Albania. I was born in 1980, so my first 10 years were
under comunism. People were poor, but there was more equality. So, when you
saw around you how everybody was doing about the same, then you didn't feel
that bad. The lack of general resources, made people and families to be much
more connected, as you had to rely more on your family (not just the inner
circile, but everybody, from uncles, aunts, third cousins, etc).

When comunism fell, some people started making more money, getting new cars,
houses on the beach, while some were left with less, which obviously made them
unhapier. They might be slightly better off than in comunism, but they were
much worse than their peers.

Well, accoding to Kant's principles, is the extra hapinness gained by those
that made it well, worth equal or more than the happiness lost by those that
are faring less well? It is a very hard thing to quantify.

But even in the 80s, we could watch Italian TV, so we kinda new that the rest
of the world was doing much better, (and eventually overthru our comunist
goverment), BUT everybody around us was doing about the same.

My mom told me a while ago; well we are doing much better economically (as a
family), and have a lot more now, BUT we seemed to be a lot happier back than.

------
jgrahamc
An old girlfriend of mine used to say: "People who say money doesn't buy
happiness don't know where to shop".

~~~
nazgulnarsil
i hate vapid little sayings like this. people use these as mental shortcuts.

x? respond with y, problem solved.

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aston
As the great poet-rapper Kanye West once said, "Having money's not everything;
not having it is."

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astine
I suspect that it mostly matters for what you use it. Simple accumulation of
goods isn't really all that satisfying, but freedom from basic necessities and
the the ability to do things and make changes that you otherwise would be
incapable of, are very nice.

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lisper
Having money lets you trade one set of problems for a different set of
problems. That second set generally consists of "nice problems to have" but
they are problems nonetheless. Whether or not you're happier depends on which
set of problems you prefer.

~~~
gruseom
What is that different set of problems?

(Since people tend to be sarcastic about this, maybe I should add that I don't
mean it that way. Just curious.)

~~~
pchristensen
-can't trust people (are they nice because they like you or because they're trying to cash in)

-security (you're a more attractive target)

-pressure to continue performing (fear of being a one-hit wonder)

-more to lose, higher expected standard of living (think Mike Tyson)

-not knowing how to manage luxury (live big without blowing it all)

-decisions are more complicated because you have more options

PS These are all speculation because I definitely have the "no money" problems

~~~
gruseom
Then it's impressive that you can imagine them. Maybe you have a novelist's
mind. :)

~~~
pchristensen
Nah, I just read a lot. Thank you though!

~~~
lisper
Actually, you're not far off the mark. I would add:

\- pressure from friends and family to spend the way they want you to ("Why
don't you help your little sister more?")

\- can be hard on long-standing friendships because they can't afford to do
the things you can afford, and paying for them creates awkward feelings of
obligation.

But the fundamental problem with having money you have to decide what to do
with it, which is not nearly as easy as you might imagine.

~~~
gruseom
You remind me of a statement I read attributed to Andrew Carnegie, something
like (I'm paraphrasing): "I made several hundred million dollars and gave it
away, and the giving was incomparably harder than the making."

Also, I suppose that a psychological advantage of not having money is that you
can imagine how much better off you'd be if you had it.

~~~
lisper
I'd put that slightly differently: if you bought heavily into the idea that
money will make you happy and then find that it doesn't, then you can be truly
lost. As long as you don't have money, it makes it that much easier to figure
out what you ought to be doing day to day, which for many people is no small
thing.

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sabat
Of course money can buy happiness.

It buys one kind: what results from the relief of not having to worry about
money anymore. ("Worrying" about losing your millions does not count; we
poorer folks have to worry about that, too.)

Financial freedom does not automatically make you happy, but the universe
isn't binary, and so being relieved of the biggest worry in modern life does
buy you a good amount of happiness -- or at least, the opportunity for
happiness.

~~~
pchristensen
My favorite relevant quote is "For problems that can be solved by money,
there's nothing better than money." For instance, commuting time. I drive 30
min to work in traffic because houses are 60-80% more expensive by my office.
If I had double the money, I'd move closer and get more time with my family.
My options are 1) drive more or 2) have a smaller house. More money would
solve either of those.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
There are no problems that are better solved with less money.

~~~
maurycy
What about depression caused by exceed of money?

