Do you think too many people base their happiness on what their neighbors, not themselves, earn?

Question

"The pattern is that wealthy people are happier, on average, than poor people. Together, these findings suggest that relative income is a much better predictor of well-being than absolute income." I myself, do not think it is true.

Answer 1

I do not think that money buys happiness, look at Hollywood, so many in trouble, on drugs, driving drunk and so much more. Even Politicians, you would think they would be more honest , with all the money they have, but their happiness is lying to us and padding their own pockets.

I think if a person is descent, hard working, have moral values and try to live by the Ten Commandments, they could not help but be happy.Besides it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Money of course , is a necessity to live, pay bills etc... but a lot of people are happy just to have a job, pay their bills and feed their families and they seem very happy. Takes more than money to be happy.

Answer 2

I am inclined to agree with you, that rich people are not necessarily happier than poorer people. I depends on the population that you are studying. (We're not talking about extremely poor people in the world who cannot be happy going to bed every day with an empty stomach - of course, they're not very happy.)

Several studies have shown that it is not how rich you are but how well off you are in relation to others in your proximity. Seeing people around you better off than you gives you stress. (Either through envy, or resentment, or whatever.) And this stress does not make for a happy camper. In fact, there is a lot of data that shows this "disparity-of income caused stress" affects people's health.

This effect is present in affluent as well as poor societies. The wealthy societies are not happier than the poorer ones. The data shows that countries where income distribution is fairly even have more reasonably happy people.

We know that happiness is hard to define, and to measure, but one ingredient is a person's level of health. And the studies show markedly that ill health is greatest where there is the biggest disparity of incomes.

Prof Richard G. Wilkinson's book, "The Impact of Inequality" shows forcefully how inequality in different counties affects health. His studies cover US, UK and several African countries, and the pattern is the same.

Answer 3

My nextdoor neighbours have much more money than us, yet they spend most of their time lounging around  in their garden. They aren't very nice, and a question comes to my mind. Why do they deserve so much money?

I suppose to be happy all you need is a happy view on life.