151–160 of 172 posts
This is one of the big controversies in happiness economics. I wonder if this effect (which directly contradicts Easterlin's findings that money has no effect on happiness past a certain point; here, they contend that there is no saturation point and that happiness evolves with the logarithm of income) could be somewhat due to the way they framed the question: "assume you are on a ladder of happiness with 10 steps, w…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a thought experiment. Assume that both neighbourhoods provide the same services.
Does it even matter what your neighbours are making? I've made four figures living among millionaires and I've made six figures living among people living on welfare. I didn't really feel any different in either spot. Challenging yourself to earn more, and actually seeing the numbers rise, is where the joy comes from, at least in my experience. If you are challenging yourself and your income isn't rising (or falling,…
Yes. If you make significantly more than the people around you, it's more difficult to make friends with the people in your community. If they know, people will ask you for money, treat you differently, and some will be jealous. It's sad..but true.
"If you are challenging yourself and your income isn't rising (or falling, even) it is pretty disheartening"
Welcome to pretty much every 9-5 job.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.economist.com/blogs/g...
This appears on HN coincidentally after the discussion on rating differences between cultures[1], so that different countries may have different views about what a scale of 1-10 means. A 7 in Brazil might not be a 7 in India, for example. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7044833
Money can buy security and that security increases your happiness. Not having money can make you unhappy. Sustainable happiness is recognizing what is truly valuable in life and appreciating it. For me this is: 1) No debt 2) Full stomach/quenched thirst 3) A warm place to sleep 3) Meaningful intimate loving relationships 4) A sense that I am valuable (adding value to the world or some subset) 5) Freedom to indulge my…
1. No debt is fairly expensive in this world. Either you need a nontrivial income or a fairly high threshold for ascetic living. 2. Full stomach/quenched thirst is trivial if you don't mind tap water and simple starches, but once you add (depending on your taste) a complement of steak, quinoa, fresh fruits, beer and/or wine - then you run into a little money. 3. Warm place to sleep - anywhere near work? public transp…
(I'm in the UK, so the NHS deals with health care.)
The income scale is logarithmic, so the apparently linear lines that you see are actually curved. The returns in happiness per $ earned fall off significantly towards the top of the scale (which incidentally is capped at a fairly low $128,000). I don't really see how this new data contradicts the generally accepted view (mentioned in the article) that money increases happiness up to a point.
>I don't really see how this new data contradicts the generally accepted view (mentioned in the article) that money increases happiness up to a point. The article shows a logarithmic trend (i.e. doubling your income increases your happiness by a fixed amount), which is a straight line on the log plot. This insinuates ( if the trend continues, which is assumed from the results) that there is no point at which increase…
They are not; in the real world, logarithmic growth and bounded growth are essentially the same because the possibilities for income growth are severely limited, and you reach a point where any realistic increase in income cannot yield a measurable increase in happiness.
Money can buy security and that security increases your happiness. Not having money can make you unhappy. Sustainable happiness is recognizing what is truly valuable in life and appreciating it. For me this is: 1) No debt 2) Full stomach/quenched thirst 3) A warm place to sleep 3) Meaningful intimate loving relationships 4) A sense that I am valuable (adding value to the world or some subset) 5) Freedom to indulge my…
This is one of the big controversies in happiness economics. I wonder if this effect (which directly contradicts Easterlin's findings that money has no effect on happiness past a certain point; here, they contend that there is no saturation point and that happiness evolves with the logarithm of income) could be somewhat due to the way they framed the question: "assume you are on a ladder of happiness with 10 steps, w…
> people care more about how much they earn compared to their neighbors Evolution should select for this "comparative success" behavior, possibly even if its only advantage is as a signal for mating.
In most cities, housing prices are based on land value, not construction costs. And land value is entirely based on demand: what your neighbours are willing to pay for the same lot.
And most services are priced based on the salaries of your neighbours - the more you earn relative to them, the more of their time you can afford.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. No debt is fairly expensive in this world. Either you need a nontrivial income or a fairly high threshold for ascetic living. 2. Full stomach/quenched thirst is trivial if you don't mind tap water and simple starches, but once you add (depending on your taste) a complement of steak, quinoa, fresh fruits, beer and/or wine - then you run into a little money. 3. Warm place to sleep - anywhere near work? public transp…
When I comment on this site I try very hard to say exactly what I mean and nothing more. I believe, but may be mistaken, that you have made some assumptions about what I was saying. Above I asserted an objective truth, and followed it with my list of subjective truths. Objective truth: Sustainable happiness is recognizing what is truly valuable in life and appreciating it. To elaborate, to evaluate the value of every…
If you are making the argument that there is a monetary threshold that needs to be met in order to be happy (for a normal person) I would agree. What that exact threshold is I am not sure. In my youth I had enough to be happy on 40k a year even though I wasn't, but this was due to a lack of understanding/perspective.
If you are making the argument that money directly buys happiness, I would say this is a short sighted and incorrect view.
Did I summarize your point in either case above? What was your exact point? I'd like to discuss further.
Also, pertaining to the specific article, satisfaction and happiness (while similar) are two different things for me. I am not sure why they took a survey concerning satisfaction and assumed that "satisfaction" is synonymous with happiness for all participants.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> people care more about how much they earn compared to their neighbors Evolution should select for this "comparative success" behavior, possibly even if its only advantage is as a signal for mating.
Regardless of any competitive or status-based desires, income relative to your neighbours (everyone in your city) is a big part of actual purchasing power. In most cities, housing prices are based on land value, not construction costs. And land value is entirely based on demand: what your neighbours are willing to pay for the same lot. And most services are priced based on the salaries of your neighbours - the more y…