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Other research, which I can't dig up at the moment, tells us that wealthier people are happier. So other things being equal, having more money than you can pos
by jhancock 18y ago
Other research, which I can't dig up at the moment, tells us that wealthier people are happier. So other things being equal, having more money than you can possibly spend should take a few worries off. Not sure this required a research grant to figure out, but ok.
So, I guess the only real add this post provides is that some wealthy people are happier and also some of them are smart and interesting. ok. I've met Steve Jurvetson before and also found him to be smart and interesting. I just didn't blog about it ;).
- lutorm 18y agoFunny, I remember hearing that research showed exactly the opposite, ie people in remote villages in New Guinea rated their happiness substantially the same as those in developed countries. But like you, I don't have the sources either. ;-) You might be right, though, that relative wealth influences happiness. In other words, you don't want to be the poorest person in your community, even if objectively you are wealthier than those in other communitites.
- yummyfajitas 18y agoIt's difficult to tell how much of this is a calibration effect. The fundamental problem is measurement, which is usually some variant of: "On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you?" I have no clue what the difference between 3, 5 and 7 is. Neither do villagers in New Guinea. So I (and I suspect most people) look around me, assume the typical person is a 5, then rate myself accordingly (I don't have a Wii, therefore I'm a 4). You are really measuring a weird combination of happiness, and what the typical person thinks a "6 out of 10" actually means. Basically, most happiness research is BS.