The Easterlin Paradox and Other Thoughts

Occasionally, the newspaper I read- The Hindu- reprints interesting articles published in other newspapers abroad, usually the Guardian of UK (on which it is modeled) but the other day there was an article from The New York Times. The topic of these reprinted articles are quite interesting- money, moving house, non-fiction writing and so on. The article I read the day before was about something called the ‘Easterlin Paradox’, which is all about money and the happiness or unhappiness it brings.

In the article with a rather long title- ‘Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, Well, on Second Thought…”, David Leonhardt dwells on the Easterlin Paradox (propounded by Richard Easterlin) which states that economic growth doesn’t necessarily lead to more satisfaction. Simply put, the Easterlin paradox says that more money is not a guarantee of happiness. It also says that relative income- that is how much we make compared to those around us- matters more than absolute income. But now it seems a new study by two young economists contradicts Easterlin. Their new study says that money tends to bring happiness though there is no guarantee. It also says that absolute income matters more than relative income, which is quite opposite to what Easterlin said.

It is an interesting topic, the link between money and happiness. Another article in December 2006 that I had cut and kept was about the link between money and behaviour. The article by Johnjoe McFadden said that thinking about money seemed to make people more independent and less likely to call for assistance. The writer also said that a survey found that studying money made people less generous and unsocial, that is, they were more unlikely to help others in need of help.

Many who don’t have enough money for every thing (especially guys like me who work for the government!) would agree that a little more money would made a lot of difference to their lives. All I need more money for is to be able to buy books, pens and do writing workshops to improve my writing. It is one thing that is bugging me no end, not having saved enough to do a writing workshop abroad.

I don’t know of any get-rich quick schemes except selling my book for a huge advance. This is one thing that I dream about every night. A publisher reads my manuscript and instantly writes a cheque for a six (make it seven) figure amount, clutching which I rush to my office and tell the boss I am quitting for good. It is at this point that I wake up and realize I’m yet to type out the manuscript.