You know the old saying — money can’t buy you happiness. It makes some sense. After all, lots of very wealthy people are unhappy, while many poor people are happy. Still, just about all of us would welcome being happier — it’s even a part of our Declaration of Independence: the pursuit of happiness.
Fortunately, we needn’t flounder alone. There’s a growing body of research on the topic — and much of it can be applied to our financial lives.
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A number of recent events in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States of America, seem to suggest that a generally high level of material prosperity does not necessarily go hand in hand with human happiness, but, more disturbingly, that at least sometimes it seems to produce conditions that actually undermine happiness among people.
The events in question include those reported (in last week’s Sunday Times and in the latest Time magazine) on the alarming recent developments in Britain concerning a growing culture of violence among the country’s youth — developments that point to widespread disaffection and social as well as generational alienation among the young. And I mean “young”; sometimes horrifically violent attacks on people have been carried out by individuals in their early teens.
The fatal shootings of fellow students and staff at Virginia Tech in the US, by who appeared to be a “troubled” student recently — and some time ago by two teenagers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, of a number of their peers and a teacher, as well as a shooting spree by a disgruntled broker in Atlanta after he had killed his wife and children — also suggest that something is amiss in these relatively prosperous societies. One may well ask what these events have to do with the broad question of human happiness.
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Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Harvard Business School have found that it’s possible to buy happiness after all: when you spend money on others.
In a series of studies, UBC Asst. Prof. Elizabeth Dunn found that individuals report significantly greater happiness if they spend money “pro-socially” — that is on gifts for others or charitable donations — rather than spending on themselves. Her findings will appear in the March 21 edition of the journal Science.
“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” says Dunn, who teaches in the UBC Dept. of Psychology and is lead author of the study.
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Italian researcher Luisa Corrado was among the those honored today at the European Science Awards Ceremony, for her work on whether wealth can bring happiness. Corrado received one of five Marie Curie Excellence Awards, which recognize excellent researchers who have participated in the EU’s researcher exchange program.
Working at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Economics, Corrado led research that maps European feelings of well-being. Her report confirms the old adage that money can’t buy happiness. In countries where the population said that they trusted the government and other institutions, a high income made people happier still, but in those countries where such trust was lacking, even the richest tended to be less happy.
The Danish emerged as the happiest people in Europe, while the British rank ninth. Dr. Corrado said, “One thing that is clear from the report is that it is not enough for governments to focus on improving wealth. Our well-being would be more likely to flourish in a mutually supportive and trusting society.”
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