| The price of happiness? £50,000pa Research shows that happiness increases with earnings – up to a pointMoney can't buy you love, but it can make you happier if you are not a high earner, according to a Nobel prizewinning psychologist.A survey of 1,000 Americans found that happiness rose in line with salary, but only until people earned $75,000 a year, the equivalent of around £50,000.Earning more than this did nothing to boost how happy people were, according to Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist at Princeton University in New Jersey, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2002.Kahneman teamed up with Angus Deaton, an economist at Princeton, to analyse 450,000 responses to a daily survey on happiness and life satisfaction run by Gallup in 2008 and 2009.The survey asked people to rate how happy they felt each day, based on their experiences of emotions such as joy, worry, sadness and fascination. They were then asked to rate their overall satisfaction with life, on a scale where zero was the worst they could imagine life to be and 10 being the best.The researchers found that life satisfaction rose steadily the more people were paid. 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.Describing their research in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors write: "Perhaps $75,000 is a threshold beyond which further increases in income no longer improve individuals' ability to do what matters most to their emotional well-being, such as spending time with people they like, avoiding pain and disease, and enjoying leisure."The figure will make grim reading for the majority of people who work in Britain. According to the Office of National Statistics' annual survey of hours and earnings, half of people in full time jobs in 2009 earned less than £25,816. Some 90% earned less than £46,278 a year.The researchers warn that 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," they write.PsychologyPayFamily financesWork-life balanceWork & careersIan Sampleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Money for Stoves, but the Other Pledges? What happened to the $30 billion in fast-track financing that developed countries pledged for climate-change mitigation and adaptation? feeds.nytimes.com |
Petrels avoid oil spill damage Some long-lived seabirds skip breeding to avoid being harmed by oil spills, a study shows. news.bbc.co.uk |
Malaysia to use lab mosquitoes to fight dengue By 2010-10-11T10:00:39ZPUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysia could be the first country in Asia to use genetically modified mosquitoes to battle a rise in dengue fever, government authorities said Monday.... hosted.ap.org |
Frustrations show as climate talks resume CANCUN, Mexico (AP) -- Frustrated at past failures, climate negotiators began a critical two-week conference Monday with a call from Mexico's president to think beyond their nations' borders and consider all humanity as they bargain over an agreement to fight global warming.... hosted.ap.org |