Buying Happiness

Michael Norton of Harvard Business SchoolImage: Steph Stevens

Using Money to Buy Happiness

Two scholars offer scientific advice on getting the most happiness for your dollar

By Gareth Cook

We live in America with two bits of contradictory received wisdom — that you’d be a lot better off if you made more money, and that money can’t buy you happiness. Now two scholars suggest another way of thinking about the relationship between cash and joy: To a large degree, how you spend is just as important as how much you spend.Michael Norton, an associate professor at Harvard Business School and coauthor – with Elizabeth Dunn – of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook./.../