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Money and Mental Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study of Medium-Sized Lottery Wins

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Author Info
Jonathan Gardner () (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Andrew J. Oswald () (University of Warwick and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

One of the famous questions in social science is whether money makes people happy. We offer new evidence by using longitudinal data on a random sample of Britons who receive medium-sized lottery wins of between £1000 and £120,000 (that is, up to approximately U.S. $200,000). When compared to two control groups - one with no wins and the other with small wins - these individuals go on eventually to exhibit significantly better psychological health. Two years after a lottery win, the average measured improvement in mental wellbeing is 1.4 GHQ points.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2233.

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Length: 28 pages
Date of creation: Jul 2006
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2233

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Related research
Keywords: psychological health; happiness; GHQ; income;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew, 2004. "How is mortality affected by money, marriage, and stress?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1181-1207, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  4. Boheim, Rene & Ermisch, John, 2001. " Partnership Dissolution in the UK--The Role of Economic Circumstances," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(2), pages 197-208, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  6. Carol Graham, 2005. "Insights on Development from the Economics of Happiness," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 201-231.
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    Other versions:
  8. Andrew J. Oswald, 2005. "On the Common Claim that Happiness Equations Demonstrate Diminishing Marginal Utility of Income," IZA Discussion Papers 1781, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  21. Frijters, Paul & Haisken-DeNew, John P. & Shields, Michael A., 2005. "The causal effect of income on health: Evidence from German reunification," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 997-1017, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Oswald, Andrew J & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2007. "Obesity, Unhappiness, and The Challenge of Affluence : Theory and Evidence," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 793, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 826, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J. & Van Landeghem, Bert, 2009. "Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility," IZA Discussion Papers 4010, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. David G. Blanchflower, 2007. "Is Unemployment More Costly Than Inflation?," NBER Working Papers 13505, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Richard Layard & Guy Mayraz & Stephen Nickell, 2007. "The Marginal Utility of Income," CEP Discussion Papers dp0784, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Andrew E. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2007. "La croissance rend-elle heureux ? La réponse des données subjectives," PSE Working Papers 2007-06, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  7. N Powdthavee & A Vignoles, 2008. "Mental Health of Parents and Life Satisfaction of Children: A Within-Family Analysis of Intergenerational Transmission of Well-Being," Discussion Papers 08/20, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  8. Mary C. Daly & Daniel J. Wilson, 2008. "Happiness, unhappiness, and suicide: an empirical assessment," Working Paper Series 2008-19, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Adrian de la Garza & Atsushi Sannabe & Katsunori Yamada, 2008. "Job Satisfaction and Happiness: New Evidence from Japanese Union Workers," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 08-10, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics and Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP). [Downloadable!]
  10. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2009. "Estimating the Causal Effects of Income on Happiness," Discussion Papers 09/02, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  11. Peter Kuhn & Peter Kooreman & Adriaan Soetevent & Arie Kapteyn, 2008. "The Own and Social Effects of an Unexpected Income Shock: Evidence from the Dutch Postcode Lottery," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 06-08, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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