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Money, Sex, and Happiness: An Empirical Study

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  • David G. Blanchflower
  • Andrew J. Oswald

Abstract

This paper studies the links between income, sexual behavior and reported happiness. It uses recent data on a random sample of 16,000 adult Americans. The paper finds that sexual activity enters strongly positively in happiness equations. Greater income does not buy more sex, nor more sexual partners. The typical American has sexual intercourse 2-3 times a month. Married people have more sex than those who are single, divorced, widowed or separated. Sexual activity appears to have greater effects on the happiness of highly educated people than those with low levels of education. The happiness-maximizing number of sexual partners in the previous year is calculated to be 1. Highly educated females tend to have fewer sexual partners. Homosexuality has no statistically significant effect on happiness. Our conclusions are based on pooled cross-section equations in which it is not possible to correct for the endogeneity of sexual activity. The statistical results should be treated cautiously.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10499.

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Date of creation: May 2004
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10499

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Herbert Brücker & Philipp JH Schröder, 2011. "Migration regulation contagion," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(3), pages 315-335, September.
  2. Gabriel Leite Mota, 2007. "Why Should Happiness Have a Role in Welfare Economics? Happiness versus Orthodoxy and Capabilities," FEP Working Papers 253, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
  3. Polgreen, Linnea & Simpson, Nicole, 2010. "Happiness and International Migration," Working Papers 2010-03, Department of Economics, Colgate University.
  4. Wilson, Chris M & Oswald, Andrew J, 2005. "How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 728, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
  5. John Malcolm Dowling & Yap Chin Fang, 2006. "Homeostasis and Well Being," Working Papers 09-2006, Singapore Management University, School of Economics.
  6. Finbarr Brereton & J. Peter Clinch & Susana Ferreira, 2008. "Employment and Life-Satisfaction: Insights from Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 39(3), pages 207-234.
  7. Ebrahim, Amina, 2010. "The Determinants Of Happiness Among Race Groups In South Africa," Honours Students' Projects 2010 107588, Rhodes University, Department of Economics and Economic History.
  8. Kavetsos, Georgios & Szymanski, Stefan, 2010. "National well-being and international sports events," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 158-171, April.
  9. Daniel J. Benjamin & Ori Heffetz & Miles S. Kimball & Alex Rees-Jones, 2010. "Do People Seek to Maximize Happiness? Evidence from New Surveys," NBER Working Papers 16489, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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