Economic growth does not guarantee rising happiness
An old paradox lives on
PHILOSOPHERS FROM Aristotle to the Beatles have argued that money does not buy happiness. But it seems to help. Since 2005 Gallup, a pollster, has asked a representative sample of adults from countries across the world to rate their life satisfaction on a scale from zero to ten. The headline result is clear: the richer the country, on average, the higher the level of self-reported happiness. The simple correlation suggests that doubling GDP per person lifts life satisfaction by about 0.7 points.
This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline "Dismal science"
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