It’s a cliché that “you can’t buy happiness”, but at the same time, financial security is among most people’s top career priorities.1 Moreover, when people are asked what would most improve the quality of their lives, the most common answer is more money.What’s going on here? Who is right?
A lot of the research on this question is of remarkably low quality. But there have been some recent major studies in economics that allow us to make progress. In particular, we now finally have survey data from hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. We’ve sifted through the best studies available to figure out what’s really going on. The truth seems to lie in the middle: money does make you happy, but only a little. And this has many important implications about trade-offs you face in your life and career.
More here – 80,000 hours
