Income and Output: Their Relation to Happiness
Introduction
All people have experienced various emotions such as anger, saddness, and happiness. In general it is the consenus that the majority of people would like to exprience greater happiness throughout their lives. This raises the question of how can this be done. Recently, Economists have been researching links of GNP (wealth of certain nations) and income to how it effects a citizens happiness. The main questions we will be trying to answer today are: Does greater wealth mean greater happiness? & Why at any point in time people with higher incomes are happier than low income citizens, but over a life cycle as income rises happiness stays relatively constant? These questions will be answered following the work of various economists whose ideas lie on both sides of the argument.
Income and Happiness
Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment
Samuel Jackson, 1776
Income and Happiness: A Unique Paradox
"Researchers say I'm not happier for
being richer but do you know how
much researchers make?
Postive Correlation of Output and Happiness
Macroeconomic movements have strong effects on the happiness of nations. Movements in well-being seem to be correlated with changes in gross domestic product (GDP). “However, this only holds true after controlling for personal characteristics of respondents, country fixed effects, and country-specific time trends” (TMOH, 1). So does a higher GDP have permanent effects on a nation’s happiness? GDP does help buy extra happiness.
Output and Happiness: Positive Correlation
No Correlation Between Output and Happiness
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