Scientists answer the question of whether money is happiness

(ORDO NEWS) — Traditionally, great wealth is associated with a happy life, but now American researchers have decided to find out if this is really the case.

There is conflicting evidence about the relationship between life satisfaction and high affluence.

While some scientists argue that money is only important up to a certain threshold and excessive wealth no longer brings happiness, others describe the relationship between income and happiness as linear: the more money, the happier a person.

To put an end to this issue, a group of American researchers from various US research centers joined forces in an attempt to figure out whether there is a “plateau”, after which the level of happiness is no longer affected by the level of income.

To do this, they analyzed data from previous studies to understand the causes of the contradictions. As a result, it turned out that the statement “money does not buy happiness” requires several clarifications.

First, it turned out that for most people there is indeed a linear relationship between income levels and life satisfaction.

However, there is a small – about 20 percent – category of “unhappy” people for whom money does not solve everything: their level of happiness grows steadily up to a certain threshold (from 60 to 90 thousand dollars of annual income), after which it levels off.

In other words, the contradictions of previous works were caused both by methodological limitations and by an insufficiently large sample.

Scientists emphasize that their work can have a wide practical application. First, it can help adjust tax rates or compensation paid to workers to maintain their level of life satisfaction.

Second, they can help career choosers weigh the possible pros and cons of different careers in relation to income projections and their impact on happiness.

It is worth recognizing that for emotional well-being, money is not everything. Material wealth is just one of many factors that determine happiness.

Although high income and the opportunity, for example, to have a good rest on vacation or afford a large purchase, are more likely to allow a person to consider himself happy.

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