Thursday 10 November 2022 05:29 PM Money CAN buy happiness: Study finds people given one-time sum of $10,000 ... trends now
You may have been told otherwise, but money really does buy happiness.
People given a five-figure, one-time sum were happier than their peers even months after spending it all, a study found.
In a one-of-a-kind social experiment, researchers at the University of British Columbia recruited 300 people in seven countries — and gave around half $10,000.
They were monitored for six months and compared to a group who went about their normal lives and did not receive money.
By the end of the study, people in the cash group reported feeling happier regardless of how they spent it.
Happiness gains were highest for those who had the least amount of money before the study.
People given a five-figure, one-time sum were happier than their peers even months after spending it all, a study found (file)
Two anonymous wealthy donors redistributed $2million of their money in $10,000 PayPal transfers to 200 people around the world, in partnership with media organization TED.
Three hundred participants were recruited from three lower-income countries -Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya - and four rich countries - Australia, Canada, the US and UK. They were randomly assigned to receive $10,000 cash or not.
The researchers calculated participants’ wellbeing by measuring their satisfaction with life on a scale of one to seven and how often they experienced positive feelings, like happiness, and negative feelings like sadness, on a scale of one to five.
The participants, aged between 21 and 78, were recruited through Twitter in December 2020 and had incomes ranging from $0 to
