Publications
Publications
- May 2018
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
The Amount and Source of Millionaires' Wealth (Moderately) Predicts Their Happiness
By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Tianyi Zheng, Emily Haisley and Michael I. Norton
Abstract
Two samples of more than 4,000 millionaires reveal two primary findings. First, only at high levels of wealth—in excess of $8 million (Study 1) and $10 million (Study 2)—are wealthier millionaires happier than millionaires with lower levels of wealth, though these differences are modest in magnitude. Second, controlling for total wealth, millionaires who have earned their wealth are moderately happier than those who inherited it. Taken together, these results suggest that, among millionaires, wealth may be likely to pay off in greater happiness only at very high levels of wealth, and when that wealth was earned rather than inherited.
Keywords
Citation
Donnelly, Grant Edward, Tianyi Zheng, Emily Haisley, and Michael I. Norton. "The Amount and Source of Millionaires' Wealth (Moderately) Predicts Their Happiness." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 44, no. 5 (May 2018): 684–699.