Can Money Make You Happy?

Can money make you happy? An entire quantitative field of study, happiness economics, has grown up around that question. In reading the literature, I came to one inescapable conclusion: Happiness economics makes some academics happy because they can publish conflicting papers that help them earn tenure. Oh, and they’ve boiled down happiness to an equation:

Wit = α + βxit + εit

But the real relationship between income and happiness is more nuanced, and measuring people’s true feelings is tricky. For example, when study subjects are asked how happy they think people at different income levels are likely to be, they generally underestimate the happiness of the poor. And because much of the research considers just two variables, with income on one axis and happiness on the other, the other factors that make

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Can Money Make You Happy?

From the comments section, two were excellent and I agree with them:

Money buys one thing: more choices. Happiness comes by making the right choices. More choices can often lead to poor choices. I think there is a basic income level that provides satisfaction -- enough money to pay for basic needs and wants. Beyond that, it's the making of good choices that creates happiness. I've known a lot of people with a lot of money, who make horrible choices and are pretty unhappy.

It's the wrong question. Money is amoral. It's like asking, "Can a chair bring happiness? It depends on what you do with the chair. The love of money is the root of all evil. Not money itself. You can truly be happy in giving your money to others, or even using money to meet a need. For a time, you may even "feel happy" in purchasing ______. But, in the end, the love of money will not bring happiness. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., one of the richest men in history, was once asked how much money it takes to make a man happy. Rockefeller's famous reply was, "just a little bit more." Only God can bring true happiness.

I have thought very hard about my father in law and my father both in Nursing Homes, who in their lucid moments never thought, DARN, I wish I hadn't taken that vacation with my wife or family, I wish I hadn't gone to dinner with friends, I wish we hadn't spent money on good memories at the lake, hunting, fishing or whatever. I wish I had saved it all up carefully in an IRA or 401K so I could give all that money to thee NURSING HOME.