In: Gaël Brulé &
Christian Suter (eds) Wealth(s) and Subjective Well-Being. Part of the Social Indicators Research Series book
series E-book: https://rd.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-05535-6#toc
Abstract
There is a lot of research on the relationship
between income and happiness, but little research into the relationship between
wealth and happiness. Knowledge about the effects of wealth on happiness is
required for informed decision making in matters of saving and consumption. In
order to answer the questions of how and to what extent wealth relates to
happiness, we take stock of the available research findings on this issue,
covering 119 research findings observed in 72 studies. We use a new method of
research synthesis, in which research findings are described in a comparable
format and entered in an online ‘findings archive’, the World Database of
Happiness, to which links are made from this text. This technique allows a
condensed presentation of research findings, while providing readers access to
full details. We found mostly positive relationships between assets and
happiness, and negative relationships between debt and happiness. The size of
the relationships is small, variations in wealth explain typically less than 1%
of the variation in individual happiness. The correlations are slightly reduced
when controlled for income and socio-demographic factors. The few longitudinal
studies suggest a causal effect of wealth on happiness. We found little
differences across methods used and populations studied. Together, the
available research findings imply that building wealth will typically add to
your happiness, though not by very much.
Keywords: life satisfaction,
consumption, saving, assets, debt, wealth, research synthesis