Professor Hsee Studies Relation Between Income and Happiness

Which Chinese city has the happiest residents? Christopher Hsee, Theodore O. Yntema Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing, has the answer. He surveyed residents of 10 cities and provincial capitals, asking them to rate how much they liked where they lived. Hsee factored in answers about transit, entertainment, traffic, the environment, politeness, and more. Hsee’s study was the subject of an article “Rich city not laughing all the way to the bank” that appeared in the Shanghai Daily.

The results provided some surprises. According to the article, “the research …suggest(s) people’s sense of happiness doesn’t necessarily increase as their incomes rise.” For example, Hsee found that Guangzhou, the city with the second highest average income, had the least happy residents.

As mentioned in the article, among Hsee’s research specialties is the subject of happiness. You can read another paper Hsee wrote on this topic, “Decision and Experience: Why Don’t We Choose What Makes Us Happy?”.

Hsee's research was picked up by the LA Times as part of a story it ran on Chengdu, often referred to as China's Party Capital. In Hsee's survey, the city ranked last in income, but was second only to Hagzhou in terms of how happy its residents were.

“Rich city not laughing all the way to the bank” appeared in the Shanghai Daily on January 17, 2006.