Are Rich People Happier than Poor People?

New York Times ^ | April 22, 2008 | Justin Wolfers

[expat_panama]

[snip] It sure seems like the rich are more likely to be “very happy” than the rest of us. Is this a big effect? In 2005, Robert Frank argued:
When we plot average happiness versus income for clusters of people in a given country at a given time, we see that rich people are in fact much happier than poor people.
It’s actually an astonishingly large difference. There’s no one single change you can imagine that would make your life improve on the happiness scale as much as to move from the bottom 5 percent on the income scale to the top 5 percent.
Let’s go ahead and draw the plot that Frank envisions, using all of the data from the 2006 survey:

Here’s the key point:
By comparing rich and poor people, we estimate a happiness-income gradient that has a slope that is similar to what we saw when we compared rich and poor countries.
OK, that’s the United States, what about other countries? We estimated the well-being-income gradient for over 100 countries in the Gallup World Poll. Rather than show you dozens of separate coefficients, we’ll let a picture tell the story (and let me admit, I love this graph).

... [ship] ... it stands directly at odds with a key claim of Easterlin (see p.106 to 107):
… the happiness difference between rich and poor countries that one might expect on the basis of the within-country differences by economic status are not borne out by the international data.
[snip]

[unkus]

“My happiness seems to be more tied to how little debt I have, regardless of income level.”

Me too, exactly. No debt=Freedom.

[Married with Children]

After growing up in an upper middle class family then for the last 9 years having a family of my own living in a less than 900 square foot home barely making ends meet, I’d say having money would not be too bad. My wife and I agree that if we did have wealth we would not be stupid and buy new cars and have an elaborate house. We would continue driving our used cars and still shop at the discount stores. We would still refrain from having credit cards. . . basically follow the Dave Ramsey method.

[Appleby]

Eddie Irvine, the notorious Irish Formula One driver (best known for being socked in the mouth by Ayrton Senna whereupon he replied, “Well, THERE’S a few quid coming!”) was constantly surrounded by beautiful women, and he would say to anybody without any arrogance or shame, “If I didn’t have any money, not one of these girls would ...” well you can fill in the rest for yourself.

Among us Cougars it is agreed that the best pickup line in the world is still “I have a Platinum Visa card and a Lamborghini.” Or in my case, a Koenigsegg.

People who say money can’t buy happiness are people who have never had enough money to make the experiment. Of course it can. On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln once observed that a man is usually just as happy as he makes up his mind to be.

[stravinskyrules]

In an age of antidepressants, is this question relevant?

[MrB]

Happy people have everything they want.

The secret is to control your wants.

[Toskrin]

"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it."

So says this man:

[ElectricStrawberry]

Gimme a $bajillion.....and I’ll find out for ya.

[CodeToad]

Absolutely not. The only unhappy poor people I know are ones who cannot pay their bills, but people of limited means are usually happier than rich people. I know people on both extremes of the scale and by far the poorer people are far happier. Rich people tend to pretend all is well but that is because they are snobby and no rich person ever wants to hear of other people’s problems, probably because they don’t want to face the fact that they, too, have problems.

[Our man in washington]

One problem is “which came first: the happiness or the money?”

If I were an executive, all things being equal, I’d rather promote Happy Hank to management than Miserable Mike.

I heard that lottery winners are often not appreciably happier once the initial euphoria has worn off.

[cubreporter]

I think if you are content and at peace within you can be happy rich or poor.

[OB1kNOb]

Extensive research is required. Please send a large grant and I will be diligent in the comparison of my relatively poor life to the alternative.

[patton]

A king’s what?

[unkus]

And there is a big difference between Needs and Wants. We taught that to our kids early on.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've been both, and hands-down I prefer to be wealthy. It's easier to sleep at night, not worrying about that pesky electric bill.

/johnny

[donna]

Are they asking the porn rich?

[COBOL2Java]

"Money can't buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable."

Clare Boothe Luce

[wbill]

Money won’t solve all of your problems.

My old man likes to say that "Money turns problems into expenses."

I never cease to be amazed at how much he's learned since I was 18 or 19 years old.

[expat_panama]

 "Money does not make you happy. Last year I made $7 million, this year I made $8 million; and I'm just as happy now as I was then."

Arnold Schwartzenegger

[chesley]

I don't know, but I'd like to find out.

That being said, I'm not rich, but I'm pretty happy. My wants are few, and I am able to satisfy them.

Is Britney happy? I wouldn't think so, and she's rich.

On the other hand, you've got to be able to feed yourself and your family, or happiness will not exist for you.

I'd think that money is neither necessary nor sufficient for happiness, but it can make you comfortable, which will greatly assist in your quest for happiness.

[ontap]

My wife and I were raised in lower to mid class families. When we first started out things were, shall I say testy. We both worked and put each other through college and since we got our kids raised and gone we now have enough money to be rather comfortable and help our kids and grandkids. Although we were happy with next to nothing we are enjoying our new found wealth and freedom. I don’t think I want to go back to being in need.