The result isn't necessarily surprising, but it does show a point. Not all lottery winners blow the money immediately and foolishly. You would expect there to b

The result isn't necessarily surprising, but it does show a point. Not all lottery winners blow the money immediately and foolishly. You would expect there to be at least some statistical effect. But it doesn't seem to matter. And it's probably the best randomized experiment we can do to compare the effects of wealth and not wealth, all other variables equal. Wealth doesn't' seem to matter as much as people think it does. It goes back in time too. Winners of 1832 Georgia land lottery were given free land of significant value by the government to settle and farm. After a few decades, they weren't any better off than the nonwinners.