Does wealth make you happy? It’s an old question, but always relevant. Before
1945 no one had TV, computers or mobile phones. Are we happier now that we have
them? Edited by Ed Diener and Eunkook Suh, Culture and Subjective Well-Being
(MIT Press, $45, ISBN 0262041820) has some fascinating answers to this
and similarly piercing questions. For example, while the perceived inequality of
incomes is an important factor, if you are poor you may feel worse about it if
you are in a rich country than in a poor one. Curiously, the poorest of some
societies with huge rich-poor divides,…
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
The world's fastest spider tops 3.5 metres per second
2
A type of fibre that stimulates GLP-1 release approved for use in food
3
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
4
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
5
We’re not the most successful human species
6
The weirdness of neutrinos could completely rewrite particle physics
7
Slowdown of AMOC ocean current may be gradual and reversible
8
US government wants to have a useful quantum computer by 2028
9
We’ve uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
10
Humans sleep the least of all apes – is it the secret to our success?
