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Buying time promotes happiness.


ABSTRACT: Around the world, increases in wealth have produced an unintended consequence: a rising sense of time scarcity. We provide evidence that using money to buy time can provide a buffer against this time famine, thereby promoting happiness. Using large, diverse samples from the United States, Canada, Denmark, and The Netherlands (n = 6,271), we show that individuals who spend money on time-saving services report greater life satisfaction. A field experiment provides causal evidence that working adults report greater happiness after spending money on a time-saving purchase than on a material purchase. Together, these results suggest that using money to buy time can protect people from the detrimental effects of time pressure on life satisfaction.

SUBMITTER: Whillans AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5559044 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Buying time promotes happiness.

Whillans Ashley V AV   Dunn Elizabeth W EW   Smeets Paul P   Bekkers Rene R   Norton Michael I MI  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20170724 32


Around the world, increases in wealth have produced an unintended consequence: a rising sense of time scarcity. We provide evidence that using money to buy time can provide a buffer against this time famine, thereby promoting happiness. Using large, diverse samples from the United States, Canada, Denmark, and The Netherlands (<i>n</i> = 6,271), we show that individuals who spend money on time-saving services report greater life satisfaction. A field experiment provides causal evidence that worki  ...[more]

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