Can you quantify the quality-of-life boost you get by being at the top of the heap? If you're the head of state, or the head of a successful company, or the ve

Can you quantify the quality-of-life boost you get by being at the top of the heap? If you're the head of state, or the head of a successful company, or the venture capitalist, or simply heir to a fortune, you know you're on top. You wake up every day knowing your time belongs to you. You walk into a room and people smile at you, suck up to you, want to be your friend. You might even make frequent decisions about which other people in your world move upward or downward. This seems like it would be a significant dimension for anyone wanting to measure quality of life. And for this reason, I bet a lot of people wouldn't mind terribly if they had to give up their electricity, air conditioning, color television, and the rest of their modern conveniences if it meant they could swap lives with the Vanderbilits and Astors of old.