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 20 July 2008 18:18 BST

Report claims money buys happiness if you spend on others

Friday, 21 Mar 2008 14:45
Giving money to charity could make you happier according to the report

Science In Focus 

A report due to be published in an illustrious American journal claims that money can buy you happiness – as long as you spend it on other people.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Harvard Business School say that even spending small sums on other people can significantly increase an individual's sense of well-being.

UBC assistant professor Elizabeth Dunn, and her co-authors, Michael Norton, an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School and Lara Aknin, a master's student, found that individual's reported to feel happier if they spent their money "pro-socially" – through gifts and charitable donations.

The study, which is due to be published in Science this month, used a sample of 630 Americans and found it was not the amount of money that a person made that related to their happiness but how much of it they spent on other people that was significant.

Ms Dunn said: "Regardless of how much income each person made those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not.

"These findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations – as little as $5 [£2.52] – may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day," Dunn claimed.

The report may come as good news to celebrity spenders who have given big sums of money to charity recently.

Actor Nicolas Cage is reported to have donated $1 million (£504,000) to the New Orleans relief effort after Hurricane Katrina decimated the city in 2005.

Angelina Jolie is also believed to have donated $3 million (£1.51 million) to help refugees after she was selected to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2001.

If Ms Dunn's study proves to be correct then both Mr Cage and Ms Jolie will have found themselves to be significantly happier as a result.End of story


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