Happiness rose with income too, but plateaued when people reached an annual salary of $75,000. For those on more, happiness appeared to depend on other factors... the emotional strain of negative experiences, such as getting divorced or being ill, appear to be exacerbated by being poor. "More money does not necessarily buy more happiness, but less money is associated with emotional pain,"
As I mention above there is some evidence to put the figure lower. The other things I blogged about suggest there are nuances, as does the second part of the quote above. Some of that is to do with the wealth that society holds in common: infrastructure, health care, parks, working week, stress and so forth. Some of that has to do with issues of goals and fulfilment. I wonder about the methodologies. The older study was a correlation of a number of studies, and so I'd tend to trust it. I wonder whether the newer study used a different sort of definition. In the older studies a lot seems to depend on things like equality and participation, so maybe the newer study is showing the effects of studying people whol are aware of differentials and feeling disempowered ...? I think that the issues in the Spirit Level are relevant here.
The price of happiness? �50,000pa | Science | guardian.co.uk:
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