Money
Some people take Samizdata seriously so I thought I would give it a go. The first post I see is this damning indictment of those who whom the authors lumps together as believing that 'money doesn't make you happier'. Check out the searing analysis...More money, more happiness
Today my salary appeared in my bank account. I'm definitely happier than I was yesterday, when my bank account contained a very little indeed. The conventional wisdom is that I shouldn't be happier. "Money doesn't make you happier," the anti-progress crowd say.
But if that was true, then Africans who get clean water for the first time aren't any happier than when their children were dying from disease. OK, maybe the anti-progressites merely mean that once you get to a certain basic income, earning any more from that point doesn't make you happier. Really?
Let's take a young family who pay fees to send their children to school. It's a bit of a struggle paying the fees. If they had a bit more money, they wouldn't have to worry about it. Would that do nothing for their happiness? Or let's say environmentalists had their way and they had less money. The fees would become much more of a burden. Surely that would make them less happy?
posted by Matthew @ 11/06/2003 02:33:00 PM
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