Money cannot buy happiness – official!

The Beatles said it and so did Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez … money can’t buy happiness.

Money at the expense of family and health is no wealth

That fact has now been confirmed in a scientific study by the University of Southern California.

 

What’s more, people don’t get happier by getting richer, according to the USC study titled, Explaining Happiness, available later this week on the website of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

  

In fact, contrary to theories supported by many psychologists, the study found no internal “setpoint” of happiness to which people revert to, despite job loss, divorce, serious injury or other events.

 

The study did not show that a person’s wellbeing grows with increased wealth.

  

“Many people are under the illusion that the more money we make, the happier we’ll be,” said Richard Easterlin, a USC economist who analyzed data in the General Social Study, a yearly survey of 1500 people conducted since 1975.

  

“We put all of our resources into making money at the expense of our family and our health … the problem is we don’t realise that our material wants increase with the amount of money we make.”

 

“Many people are under the illusion that the more money we make, the happier we’ll be” 

Richard Easterlin, 
USC economist

“Happiness … typically came from spending quality time with loved ones and from good health,” the study found.

  

And people who appeared to be happy tended to be friendly and optimistic in nature, with plenty of self-control, a deep sense of ethics and high self-esteem.

Source: News Agencies