Of course money buys happiness. The more I have had the happier I have been and I have never ever seen anyone who finds themselves the recipient of a windfall unhappy about it. Quite the reverse. It buys health, influence, leisure, friends, comfort, experiences, travel, education and even the pleasure of giving it away, but it has to be used wisely otherwise it will bring unhappiness.

I would like to know if Tiger Woods thinks that money buys happiness. I wonder how much he would pay to be able to live at home with his wife and kids? Better still how much would his wife pay to have a faithful husband? Happiness is very fleeting whether rich or poor. Everyone will face sadness in life and money will not change that one little bit. In some cases it will make things worse. On judgement day money will testify against those who are greedy, selfish and unrepentant. How miserable they will be like the rich man Jesus spoke of

Its nice to see this subject approached through evidence rather than rhetoric. But it's unlikely the data will persuade those who take "money can't by happiness" as an article of faith - whether for religious reasons like runner, or because of political ideology, like Clive Hamilton with his "affluenza" theories

Yes runner. And just what did happen at home, or perhaps, didn't happen!

Has anyone considered the fact that all that money can't buy you effection from your partner, but it sure can buy love in other places.

There is always two sides to any story!

nationmaster produces statistics on "life satisfaction" by nation

which is an aka "happiness"

I ran a comparision with tax as % of GDP by nation and discovered a negative correlation between the level of tax and the levels of happiness...

hypothesis

the more the government taxes people, reducing their personal discretion (at an income level, at least) the less happy they are

therefore

vote liberatian (= lower taxes and smaller government)

and not socialist (= higher taxes and bigger government)

If you want to be happy with your lot in life.

Runner thinks money is a problem. Has he told his son, the one with the "work ethic", you know, the acquisitive one?

Better yet, has he told Pastor? What car does pastor drive? I'd love to know how how his lifestyle compares to the flock, and how much he pays tax on.

Rusty.