Money, Sex, and Happiness: An Empirical Study

David Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald

No 10499, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

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.

JEL-codes: I1 J3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-edu and nep-hpe
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Published as Blanchflower, David G. and Andrew J. Oswald. "Money, Sex And Happiness: An Empirical Study," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2004, v106(3), 393-415.

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Journal Article: Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study (2004)
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