Time, Money, and Subjective Wellbeing

Cassie  Mogilner; A.V.  Whillans; Michael I. Norton

Chapter | Handbook of Well-Being | 2018

Time, Money, and Subjective Wellbeing

by Cassie Mogilner, A.V. Whillans and Michael I. Norton

Abstract

Time and money are scarce and precious resources: people experience stress about having insufficient time and worry about having insufficient money. This chapter reviews research showing that the ways in which people spend their time and money, the tradeoffs that people make between having more time or having more money, and the extent to which people focus on each resource can have a significant impact on happiness. Considering subjective well-being (or “happiness”) as a combination of high positive affect, low negative affect, and high feelings of life satisfaction, we explore when, how, and why time and money impact peoples’ anticipated, momentary, and lasting happiness.

Keywords: Money; Time Management; Happiness; Satisfaction;

Format: Electronic

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Citation:

Mogilner, Cassie, A.V. Whillans, and Michael I. Norton. "Time, Money, and Subjective Wellbeing." In Handbook of Well-Being, edited by Ed Diener, Shigehiro Oishi, and Louis Tay. Noba Scholar Handbook Series. Salt Lake City: DEF Publishers, 2018. Electronic.

Can the trade-offs that people make between time and money shape our social relationships? Across three studies, utilizing self-report (N=127; N=249) and behavioral outcomes (N=358), we provide the first evidence that the chronic orientation to prioritize time over money encourages greater investment in daily social interactions. For example, in Study 2, respondents who valued time spent 18% longer socializing with a new peer than respondents who valued money. These findings could not be explained by extroversion (Study 1) or by demographic characteristics such as age, gender, or socioeconomic status (Studies 1–3). Together, these studies suggest that valuing time over money facilitates social connection.

Can money buy happiness? To examine this question, research in economics, psychology, and sociology has focused almost exclusively on examining the associations between income, spending or wealth and subjective well-being. Moving beyond this research, we provide the first empirical evidence that credit scores uniquely predict happiness. Across two samples, from the United Kingdom (N=615) and the United States (N=768), credit scores predicted life satisfaction even after controlling for a range of financial covariates, including income, spending, savings, debt, and home-ownership. Respondents with higher credit scores felt more optimistic about their future, promoting happiness. Further, the relationship between credit scores and wellbeing was moderated by participants’ prior awareness of their score. Together, these results suggest that creditworthiness can plausibly increase well-being, either directly or indirectly, meaning that interventions to improve creditworthiness could improve consumer welfare.

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Time, Money, and Subjective Wellbeing

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