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Philosophers from Aristotle to the Beatles have argued that money does not buy happiness. But it seems to help. Since 2005 Gallup, a pollster, has asked a representative sample of adults from countries across the world to rate their life satisfaction on a scale from zero to ten. The headline result is clear: the richer the country, on average, the higher the level of self-reported happiness. The simple correlation suggests that doubling GDP per person lifts life satisfaction by about 0.7 points. 从亚里士多德到披头士，哲学家们都认为金钱买不到幸福，但似乎有所（对幸福感提升）帮助。自2005年以来，民意调查机构盖洛普对来自世界各国的成年人代表进行了民意测试，要求他们对自己的生活满意度从0到10进行打分。结果表明：平均而言，一个国家越富有，幸福感就越高。这个简单的相关性调查表明，人均国内生产总值翻一番，生活满意度将提高了0.7个百分点。 Yet the prediction that as a country gets richer its mood will improve has a dubious record. In 1974 Richard Easterlin, an economist, discovered that average life satisfaction in America had stagnated between 1946 and 1970 even as GDP per person had grown by 65% over the same period. He went on to find a similar disconnect in other places, too. Although income is correlated with happiness when looking across countries—and although economic downturns are reliable sources of temporary misery—long-term GDP growth does not seem to be enough to turn the average frown upside-down. | 
