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Guest Thinkers

Happiness Costs $75,000

“The magic income: $75,000 a year. As people earn more money, their day-to-day happiness rises. Until you hit $75,000. After that, it is just more stuff, with no gain in happiness.”

“More money does boost people’s life assessment, all the way up the income ladder. People who earned $160,000 a year, for instance, reported more overall satisfaction than people earning $120,000, and so on. ‘Giving people more income beyond 75K is not going to do much for their daily mood … but it is going to make them feel they have a better life,’ Princeton economist Angus Deaton told the Associated Press. He added that, ‘As an economist I tend to think money is good for you, and am pleased to find some evidence for that.’ The results are fascinating, especially in this conflicted age of materialism.”


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