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The money/happyness one is particularly interesting to me. If money does not equal happyness why am I so happy when I get more? I make more than 75k so obviousl

The money/happyness one is particularly interesting to me. If money does not equal happyness why am I so happy when I get more? I make more than 75k so obviously 75k isn't enough.

foepys 9y ago
It highly depends on where you live. If you live in the Bay area, 75k will not make you as happy as 60k in the mid west because rent is so high.
ghaff 9y ago
That's always seemed a particularly silly one to me that doesn't in the aggregate comport to any experience of the real world. There's presumably a declining utility curve at some point but that's not the same as saying there isn't a correlation. Money does help make a lot of issues/problems go away.
wazoox 9y ago
The fact that you want more is irrelevant. You may be unhappy and believe that more money will make you happier, but it could be just a false belief or a bias.
- jasonmaydie 9y ago
  But the question presumes that somehow you are unhappy because you don't have enough money. What if you are already happy but more money makes you more happy? Money is not a cure for unhappiness seems like a more accurate phrase.
Sohcahtoa82 9y ago
The point was that more money gives diminishing returns to happiness. Would you really be twice as happy to win a $2 billion lottery jackpot as you would a $1 billion jackpot? Certainly, you'd be bouncing off the walls from the thrill either way, but I doubt you'd be twice as happy. When it comes to money, there are diminishing returns on the happiness you get from what the money lets you do. At the low income levels, getting a little more money lets you not live paycheck-to-paycheck, losing sleep every night because you're not sure if you're going to be able to pay rent. At the extreme levels, it merely determines if you buy a 200 ft yacht or a 30 foot yacht. I think part of the problem is that it's really hard to create a metric that defines happiness.

The money/happyness one is particularly interesting to me. If money does not equal happyness why am I so happy when I get more? I make more than 75k so obviously 75k isn't enough.

foepys 9y ago

It highly depends on where you live. If you live in the Bay area, 75k will not make you as happy as 60k in the mid west because rent is so high.

ghaff 9y ago

That's always seemed a particularly silly one to me that doesn't in the aggregate comport to any experience of the real world. There's presumably a declining utility curve at some point but that's not the same as saying there isn't a correlation. Money does help make a lot of issues/problems go away.

wazoox 9y ago

The fact that you want more is irrelevant. You may be unhappy and believe that more money will make you happier, but it could be just a false belief or a bias.

jasonmaydie 9y ago
But the question presumes that somehow you are unhappy because you don't have enough money. What if you are already happy but more money makes you more happy? Money is not a cure for unhappiness seems like a more accurate phrase.

Sohcahtoa82 9y ago

The point was that more money gives diminishing returns to happiness. Would you really be twice as happy to win a $2 billion lottery jackpot as you would a $1 billion jackpot? Certainly, you'd be bouncing off the walls from the thrill either way, but I doubt you'd be twice as happy. When it comes to money, there are diminishing returns on the happiness you get from what the money lets you do. At the low income levels, getting a little more money lets you not live paycheck-to-paycheck, losing sleep every night because you're not sure if you're going to be able to pay rent. At the extreme levels, it merely determines if you buy a 200 ft yacht or a 30 foot yacht. I think part of the problem is that it's really hard to create a metric that defines happiness.