A positive correlation between subjective well-being and GDP per capita at a point in time, and a tendency for gains in subjective well-being to decline when GDP capita exceeds US$ 10 000.
I wonder why Mexico seems to be an outlier.
Related;
Gross Domestic Happiness (via Mankiw blog)
Subjective Well-Being Research
Prosperity Brings Satisfaction - and Hope
An earlier post about GDP and Wellbeing and An Overdose of Happiness
See also New Economist’s posts on Happiness
Hi Paul,
These studies on the "Economics of Hapiness" are really interesting. See and old post about that in our blog:
http://pgpblog.worldbank.org/economics_of_happiness
Cheers
I would suggest a very different route of analysis of this problem. After all, if we are talking about subjective phenomena, we need to consider qualitative analyses. There is no reason that qualitative cannot complement these quantitative. Especially when this graph above is as messy as it is.
Look to economic anthropology, for example, and you will find a very different insight into this question. Read Marshall Sahlin's classic essay "The Original Affluent Society" and now you've got a real debate on your hands: how is happiness related to modernity/development?
Tequilla
If you add a 3rd axis (latitude) or "latitude-adjust" the GDP, it might be interesting.