Sunday, March 9, 2008

Income and Happiness: An Imperfect Link

from The New York Times - click for full article
Published: March 9, 2008

DOES money buy happiness? This week, Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, will join a long line of people who have taken serious stabs at trying to answer that thorny question. He will hold a hearing exploring whether traditional economic measures like per-capita income accurately capture people’s sense of well-being.


David G. Klein

This has long been a contested issue. Although everyone concedes that income is an imperfect welfare measure, conservative economists have tended to emphasize its virtues while liberals have been more likely to stress its shortcomings.

[posted for Melissa!]

5 comments:

Angelina Fierro said...

I do not think money can buy happiness, but I strongly believe money can make you happier haha.

Chris Gutierrez said...

This delicate question differs per person. I would say on average though money does not make you happier. I guess it really depends on the person. Their are plenty of happy rich people and their are plenty of happy poor people. Money certainly makes life easier but taken at face value and on its own, I don't think it makes people happier. Without social interactions and human contact, what good is money??? If you had all the money in the world and no human contact I don't think it would make somebody happy.

Susie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Saba Arastu said...

this actually relates to my group project on money of love. After doing my project and creating a profile on shaadi.com, the indian matchmaking service, i feel like no amount of money can buy love. I realized that chemistry between two people is something you cannot buy, basically you can't put a price tag on love

Kalpan said...

I do think money makes me happier. Money does not generally make someone happy, it just allows comfort, and with this comfort and time you can find happiness in your situation more likely than if you are poor. I agree with subhana too. Chris, you're rich so you can't say how it would be like to be poor and happy. :P