Surprise: Money makes people happier

[Phx_Dem]

Abstract

One of the famous questions in social science is whether money makes people happy. We offer new evidence by using longitudinal data on a random sample of Britons who receive medium-sized lottery wins of between £1000 and £120,000 (that is, up to approximately US$ 200,000). When compared to two control groups – one with no wins and the other with small wins – these individuals go on eventually to exhibit significantly better psychological health. Two years after a lottery win, the average measured improvement in mental wellbeing is 1.4 GHQ points.

http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/stuff_for_blog/GardOsJHElotteryproofs06.pdf

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. In This Country....

In Amerika, a $200K lottery winner would have that money spent before he even left the lottery offices.

And 5 years later, they would find themselves about 50K in debt, after having spent the lottery winnings on "stuff" that now makes them happy. Temporarily.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. Mostly by paying off debts

In my case, it would make a nice down-payment on a median price single family home in Seattle. What was left after taxes, that is. :cry:

[Tesha]

2. As the old saying goes...

As the old saying goes:

"Money may not be able to buy happiness,
but it sure can rent it!"

Tesha

[Phx_Dem]

3. interesting side note

"Intriguingly, the effect apparently takes some time to show through. The observed delay is surprising. One feasible interpretation of the phenomenon is that winning (even medium-sized prizes like these) can have a disruptive effect in time T. A second possibility, and a less attractive one for the ideas in the paper, is that the phenomenon of winning itself eventually makes people cheerier, by increasing their sense of optimism. Nevertheless, a potentially more plausible explanation is that spending the money is what matters and initially a windfall is saved. Clearly much remains to be understood."

[Orrex]

5. I am fortunate

There is no problem in my current life that money would not fix. My unhappiness stems very nearly entirely from the stress caused by debt and the cost of living; if these were removed (say, by a sudden $200K windfall) 99.99% of my unhappiness would vanish.

Hell, even if only 50% of my happiness would vanish, I'd be willing to give it a shot!

[anarch]

6. money doesn't make people happy...freedom from stress does

For instance, I would be much happier right now if I could both pay my rent and eat...that would be great! In the meantime, sorry landlord....