by CKR
Nice title, don’t you think? But I can’t claim it.
It caught my eye in the 21 March Science magazine, in the Reports section in the back of the magazine. It’s available in pdf from the University of Chicago School of Business.
While much research has examined the effect of income on happiness, we suggest that how people spend their money may be at least as important as how much money they earn. Specifically, we hypothesized that spending money on other people may have a more positive impact on happiness than spending money on oneself. Providing converging evidence for this hypothesis, we found that spending more of one’s income on others predicted greater happiness both cross-sectionally (in a nationally representative survey study) and longitudinally (in a field study of windfall spending). Finally, participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves.Yes, there are many questions that can be asked. Some are in the comments section of John Tierney’s column on this paper.
If spending money on others promotes happiness, I’m wondering if seeing others in need and not spending money on them promotes unhappiness. Specifically, I’m wondering if these findings tie in with recent public opinion polls.
Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.Or I’m wondering if, more indirectly, Barack Obama makes people feel better about themselves because he’s saying we should help take care of each other.In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the
wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.
We’ve been told for some very long time now that tax cuts are good for us, that they put money in our pockets. In the Gordon Gekko world of “greed is good,” that makes all sorts of sense. And, more practically, who wouldn’t want to have a bit more money in this month’s budget?
But taxes are one way we help other people. Sometimes we help ourselves, too, like when those taxes go to fix potholes or improve our children’s schools. And if we’re focused on reducing taxes so that we can have more in our pockets, we may be depriving ourselves of the pleasure of sharing with others.
People can, of course, do something for a relative or support a charity. But taxes also provide a way of identifying ourselves with our nation.
Losing both the pleasure of sharing with others and the warmth of identifying with our nation could be part of the uneasiness people express in agreeing with the pollsters’ “the nation is on the wrong track.” We have been told for so long now that keeping as much of our money as possible is the best of all possible worlds, that it’s likely that these losses would be unarticulated. But the Science article points to a need to help others that is deeply embedded in our nature.
I hope the presidential candidates read this article.