The 'Happiness Plateau' does not exist

The idea that money can buy only so much happiness is not supported by the data on wealth, personal well-being and overall life satisfaction.

- Adrian Wooldridge

The idea that money can't buy you happiness is one of the world's most persistent tropes. King Midas is granted his wish that everything he touches will turn to gold, only to starve to death. Jay Gatsby finds that money cannot buy him Daisy's love.

The acclaimed TV series Succession proved to be so popular not just because it is so cleverly written, but also because it dwells on the misery of the super rich. The Roy children may live in a world of private planes, luxury yachts and subdued designer clothing, but their personal lives are marinated in toxicity. Better to be a happy peasant than Kendall Roy.

But is there any real evidence for this? Or is it just a story we tell ourselves out of either resentment of the rich or a sense of social justice? We can all produce examples of rich people whose lives were ruined by horrible divorces, or poor people who spend their lives doing what they love. But anecdotes are not data and vague sentiments about just desserts are not arguments.

Over recent decades, both economists and psychologists have embarked on a rigorous study of happiness (or "well-being," as they tend to put it). Their work not only explodes the myth of happy peasants and miserable millionaires. It also suggests, more tantalisingly, that there may be no upper limit to the happiness that wealth can bring.

There is overwhelming evidence that up to a certain point greater average wealth produces greater average well-being. In 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton analysed the data on life satisfaction supplied by a Gallup Organisation poll of well-being in 132 countries and discovered that average life satisfaction is strongly related to per capita national income. Each doubling of income was associated with a nearly one-point rise in life satisfaction on a scale of one to 10.