Does greater economic development lead to happiness? Justin Wolfers, blogging on Freakonomics, thinks so. It seems like “money doesn’t lead to happiness” has become a common belief for many people. Why is that? Well, Wolfers seems to believe that the rich believe this in an attempt to convince themselves that the money they spend for luxury items and services doesn’t make them feel guilty for not spending on those in need. Of course, this debate is probably more complex than what his blog post tries to break it down to (what is happiness after all?), and his explanation for why we hold our beliefs on the correlation between money and happiness could certainly be questioned, but it’s hard to deny the notion that greater economic development could only help the lives and happiness levels of those affected.

Source: Freakonomics Blog