"MONEY DOES BUY HAPPINESS, MILLION VALIDATED"

I came across Under The Counter last week through the guys at alarm:clock. The blog is like a live Liars Poker. If Michael Lewis continued his book on a blog, this might be it. Hmmm... maybe all book authors should continue the spirit and ideas of their work through blogs?

Anyway, Under The Counter has a summary of a new study that was written up in the WSJ:

This should be good news for all you i-bankers who have been putting in 18-hour days in the hope of big bonus payouts this year. Even if your kids don't recognize you and your wife won't speak to you, take comfort in the fact that economists have recently found that money does in fact buy happiness: Data from the National Opinion Research Center show that the top fifth of income earners are about 50% more likely to say they are "very happy" than people in the bottom fifth, and only about half as likely to say they are "not too happy." Money can buy you happiness another way: By giving it away. Studies have shown that people who donate to charity are 40% more likely to say they are "very happy" than non-donors. (full post)