According to a study led by SMU Assistant Professor of Psychology Jacinth Tan and co-authored with Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour Michael Kraus at the Yale School of Management, money is more strongly related to happiness than some people think – particularly when people compare their income with someone else’s. Asst Prof Tan said, “Our findings also suggest that improving from past levels of material resources alone is insufficient for increasing happiness. Even if people today are earning higher wages or attaining higher educational levels than their parents or compared to 10 years ago, there is going to be limited impact on their happiness if they are not doing at least as well as, if not better than others at the present. In people’s minds, social mobility is not simply the ability to ascend one’s own socioeconomic ladder, but also to ascend the ladder of the broader, collective society.”