Money buys happiness?

Apparently (TSP). Another hypothesis? Those who recognize that happiness is found within and take responsibility for their own happiness tend to also be wealthier:

Looking at comparisons among countries and within countries, [Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers] find that when it comes to happiness, you can never be too rich.


Stevenson and Wolfers also find no “satiation point,” some amount where happiness levels off despite increases in income. They provide US data from a 2007 Gallup survey:


The data are pretty convincing. Even as you go from rich to very rich, the proportion of “very satisfied” keeps increasing. (Sample size in the stratosphere might be a problem: only 8 individuals reported annual incomes over $500,000;100% of them, though, were “very happy.”)