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Published online 20 March 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.684
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Money buys happiness
Especially if you give it away.
Here's a riddle: You're miserable without it, but once you get it, you'll be happier if you give it away. What is it?
The answer, according to a study in this week's Science1, is money.
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But what's the use of happiness? It can't buy me money.
Have they considered the fact that people who are more generous tend to be happier people in society? ie. If you force a penny pincher to give away more money, it won't make him or her happier at all.
I think the conclusion should be to SHARE, rather than simply GIVING IT AWAY. If I only have $100, I won't feel happy if I give away all $100; I will feel miserable. I might feel happy if I keep $20 for myself, and sharing the other $80 with others. Money is like food. They are optimisation problems.
Following N Yu's comment, have the author's considered that the charity givers are rating their happiness higher in order to self-justify their non-selfish act?
these kind of experiments are not significant if they are made only for the sake of the experiment. with other words...people, no matter of their society class, have been influenced and somehow directed to modified results for the respective tests. anyway, a thing is clear: who has a big heart can be happier with less then more...