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. 2017 Aug 8;114(32):8523-8527.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1706541114. Epub 2017 Jul 24.

Buying time promotes happiness

Ashley V Whillans  1 , Elizabeth W Dunn  2 , Paul Smeets  3 , Rene Bekkers  4 , Michael I Norton  5
Affiliations

Buying time promotes happiness

Ashley V Whillans et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

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.

Keywords: happiness; money; time; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
The effect of time-saving purchases on life satisfaction across studies 1–6.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The effect of time-saving purchases on end-of-day positive affect through time pressure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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