Out of the magical world of research on the relationship between money and happiness, a new study out of Princeton University reveals that there is a relationship between money (in terms of annual income) and happiness but only up to $75K a year. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and a number of news outlets are all over this like a cheap suit; one example is provided here: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/642850.html
Quoting from the BusinessWeek article: |Maddux urged America's beleaguered workers not to get too |hung up on the $75,000 figure. That income level can mean very |different things depending on how many people are in the family, |what sorts of financial responsibilities you have and where you live, |he said. | |"$75,000 is not a magical figure people need to achieve to be at |their happiest," Maddux said. "The point is there is a threshold at |which people probably are not going to be substantially happier |if they keep making more money." | |In 2008, average U.S household income was about $71,500, while |the median -- or the point at which half of incomes are higher and |half are lower -- was $52,000. The average skews higher than the |median because of a few very high incomes, Deaton explained I guess that most of the U.S. population has a way to go before they achieve happiness but I guess that may depend upon where you live since there is significant variation in annual income regionally. Why, even in NYC there is tremendous variation. Consider what Sam Roberts reports in a 2009 article in the NY Times; see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/nyregion/29poverty.html?scp=3&sq=annual%20income%20%22new%20york%20city%22%20%20beverdige&st=cse Quoting from that article: |In New York City, the poverty rate in 2008 was 18.2 percent — the |lowest this decade — compared with 18.5 percent in 2007. Median |household income was unchanged, at $51,116, but median family |income rose to $56,552 from $54,846. | |Those figures masked vast disparities, though, based on race, ethnicity |and geography. | |In the Bronx, the median household income was $35,033, and nearly |28 percent of the borough’s residents — and 47 percent of its households |headed by women with children — were living in poverty. And |The median income among those in the top 5 percent was $857,000, |and that group collected nearly twice the total income of those in the |bottom 60 percent. The top 20 percent made about 42 times as much |as the bottom 20 percent. Income disparities were higher in New York |than in any other state. As Queens College demographer Andrew Beverdige notes in a 2003 article, it is Manhattan households that contain the most affluent and their location is easily identifiable; see: http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/demographics/20030611/5/421 Beveridge maintains a website that covers his research in this area; see http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/blog/ But, you know, money just so far and though earning up to $75K might represent happiness in some places, it's unlikely to buy or even rent much happiness in NYC. Just read this heart-rending article on how difficult it is to make due with just $100K in Manhattan: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/fashion/27200K.html?scp=5&sq=household%20income%20%22new%20york%20city%22%20120000&st=cse I guess we just need more research on this point. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4648 or send a blank email to leave-4648-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
