Editorial

Money can't buy happiness? Studies say yes and no

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Nebraskans are pretty happy, but they shouldn’t be, according to conflicting reports.

We’re inundated on a daily basis by emails from number-crunchers who use various measurements to tell us about ourselves and create clicks on their websites.

While they’re interesting, they should be consumed with enough salt to throw your blood sodium level into the danger zone.

One of them, citing research from Psychologists from Purdue University and the University of Virginia puts a price on happiness.

Using World Gallup Poll data from 1.7 million people in 164 countries, the scientists cross-referenced their earnings and life satisfaction.

Although the cost and standard of living varies from country to country, they concluded that the ideal income for individuals is $95,000 a year for life satisfaction, and $60,000 to $75,000 a year for emotional well-being.

However, the study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior in 2018, found that once that threshold was reached, further increases in income were actually associated with reduced happiness.

The more you have, the more you want and the more you compare yourself with other people, they concluded.

The people in another recent analysis, put together by zippia.com, apparently paid no attention to the earlier study. They reported happiness despite having household income nowhere near that required in the Purdue and University of Virginia study.

zippia.com listed Nebraska as the fourth happiest state behind Utah, Montana and Wisconsin.

The data they used included

-- Depression Rates (The less depression, the happier the state)

-- Household Income (More is happier)

-- Unemployment (Less is happier)

-- Commute length (Shorter is happier)

-- Hours Worked (Less is happier)

-- Marriage Rate (More is happier)

With a median household income of only $59,566, there is no way Nebraskans should be happy according to the other study.

However, a relatively low depression rate of 4.1, low commute time of 18.6 minutes and marriage rate of 54.2 must make up the difference.

We also enjoy a low unemployment rate, which helps as well.

Most of us wouldn’t argue with the zippia.com’s conclusions about Nebraska, despite Red Willow County having a median household income of $42,882. Perhaps our short commute time, 11.4 minutes on average, helps make up for the lower income.

There is probably a bit of truth any attempt to quantify happiness and satisfaction, but it’s always possible to find examples of people who are miserable or happy at any point of whatever spectrum we care to measure.

In the end, happiness is a decision each of us must make on our own, regardless of circumstances.

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