Don?t worry, make money

Someone languishing in poverty or just about making ends meet will have no problem in identifying the true USP of wealth.

Money, we were first told in a fast-tempo Lennon-McCartney tune, can’t buy you love. Now two other worthies, economist Alan B Krueger and psychologist Daniel Kahnemen of Princeton University, tell us that money doesn’t even make us happy. What’s going on? A subtle PR exercise of selling the finer points of a post-India Shining nation not trapped by ‘Western materialism’? Or an even subtler ploy to make rich people laugh their way to their banks while the rest smile on with a ‘higher knowledge’? What Messrs Krueger and Kahnemen are saying in their study is that a greater income doesn’t necessarily translate into a happier life as people may not be spending more time -- and money -- in enjoyable ways.

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“This focusing illusion [of a linkage between money and happiness] may lead to a misallocation of time, from accepting lengthy commutes (which are among the worst moments of the day) to sacrificing time spent socialising (which are among the best moments of the day),” say the two not-too-badly off pundits. One doesn’t really need 909 employed women from Texas and 810 women in Ohio -- as the study did -- to come to that conclusion. Money, to not forget its essence, is a bartering chip. Holding on to wealth just for the sake of holding on to it -- or earning it, for that matter -- has never made sense to anyone but a money-addict. But at the same time, the study is dealing with people who have money. Someone languishing in poverty or just about making ends meet will have no problem in identifying the true USP of wealth: to spend it for essentials or luxury, depending on the ever-changing definition of what is necessary and what isn’t.

Perhaps in the ‘wealthy’ West, the non-linkage of greater income and greater happiness comes as a revelation. Here, where paisa always needs to be vasool-ed, we’ll be very happy if more money comes our way, thank you very much.