Happiness: Giving to Others

The following in today's Toronto Star is quite interesting. Money "can't buy me love" but it can be an opportunity to help someone else be happy. Bill Gates may have it right afterall.
The end of all economic activity is not, and Keynes suggested, consumption. The end may be creating room for others to be happy. I suppose one could argue that this is included in what Keynes meant...... Quite a stretch isn't it.

New Canadian-led research, being published tomorrow in the prestigious journal Science, says that spending your money on other people makes you happier than lavishing it on yourself.

"Spending on others can make people happy, yet people might not foresee this ahead of time," said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia and the lead study author.

"When we asked people to predict which of our conditions would make them happiest, they tended to think they'd be happier spending it on themselves than spending it on others," Dunn said.

Recent surveys, the study notes, have shown people in Western societies have experienced few gains in their overall happiness level over the past several decades, despite a dramatic surge in real income.

Indeed, previous research suggests that any money earned above the amount needed to cover basic needs generally buys little in the way of extra joy, even when it is used to purchase expensive cars and baubles.

"We suggest that how people spend their money may be at least as important as how much money they earn," the study says.

"Specifically, we hypothesize that spending money on other people may have a more positive impact on happiness than spending money on oneself."