3 ms·

Last time I checked, Nobel Prize Daniel Kahneman published a study[0] in 2010 on 450'000 Americans concluding that people's emotional well-being increases with

by pil0u 4y ago

Last time I checked, Nobel Prize Daniel Kahneman published a study[0] in 2010 on 450'000 Americans concluding that people's emotional well-being increases with log(income) but stops increasing at around $75k/year. Has this changed this dramatically during the past decade? [0] https://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/downloads/deaton_kahneman_high_income_improves_evaluation_August2010.pdf https://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/downloads/deaton_kahneman_...

skitter 4y ago
There's a recent paper¹ claiming Kahneman & Deaton's study was flawed and happiness does increase above $75k/year. ¹ https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2208661120 https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2208661120
slindsey 4y ago
Someone else pointed out the recent paper, but I'll also point out that $75k per year in the US puts you in the 1% of global population for salary. So it's not like $75k is attainable for most people. https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i?income=75000&countryCode=USA&household%5Badults%5D=1&household%5Bchildren%5D=0 https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i?income=...
- cableshaft 4y ago
  Adjusting for inflation, (since that number was from a paper published in 2010), that number is now $103k.
kqr 4y ago
Huh, this is really interesting! I knew the normative properties of log wealth, but the connection between well-being and log income surprises me. What's the connection between wealth and income? Linear or something else?
cableshaft 4y ago
Someone else mentioned the potential flaws with the study, but even assuming the study is correct, people keep sharing the $75k number (in 2010) without adjusting it for inflation. Adjusting it for inflation[1], $75k in 2010 would be $103k today. [1] https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
flippinburgers 4y ago
I could see my happiness topping out at roughly 1 million a year. Unfortunately I am roughly 1/16th of that per year right now. So it is likely I will never know.

by pil0u 4y ago

skitter 4y ago

There's a recent paper¹ claiming Kahneman & Deaton's study was flawed and happiness does increase above $75k/year. ¹ https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2208661120 https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2208661120

slindsey 4y ago

Someone else pointed out the recent paper, but I'll also point out that $75k per year in the US puts you in the 1% of global population for salary. So it's not like $75k is attainable for most people. https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i?income=75000&countryCode=USA&household%5Badults%5D=1&household%5Bchildren%5D=0 https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i?income=...

cableshaft 4y ago
Adjusting for inflation, (since that number was from a paper published in 2010), that number is now $103k.

kqr 4y ago

Huh, this is really interesting! I knew the normative properties of log wealth, but the connection between well-being and log income surprises me. What's the connection between wealth and income? Linear or something else?

cableshaft 4y ago

Someone else mentioned the potential flaws with the study, but even assuming the study is correct, people keep sharing the $75k number (in 2010) without adjusting it for inflation. Adjusting it for inflation[1], $75k in 2010 would be $103k today. [1] https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

flippinburgers 4y ago

I could see my happiness topping out at roughly 1 million a year. Unfortunately I am roughly 1/16th of that per year right now. So it is likely I will never know.