Buying Happiness

In this Michael Norton keynote, the speaker begins by dispelling the common myth that "money can't buy happiness," and instead argues that "if you don't think money can buy you happiness, you're not spending it right."

Rather than spending money on antisocial projects, Norton argues that using one's money to benefit others increases happiness on both parties. The Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School conducted an experiment in Vancouver where his team gave out envelopes of money to University students, half saying that the money could be spent on themselves and half saying it had to go towards others. At the end of the day those who spent the allowance on other people reported an increase in happiness while those who didn't did not report a change in how they felt.