Studies by psychologists, sociologists, and economists indicate that increases in incomes beyond about US$4,000 are not related to happiness nor significantly with the objective quality-of-life indicators (which increase with scientific and technological breakthroughs at the global level). Yet...

In many countries, the GDP share of the public sector increases with per capita income but happiness fails to register a long-term upward trend. Most objective indicators of the quality of life also do not correlate positively with income but improve with time associated with the advancement of...