Tightwadism

Arnold Kling

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Referred by John Tierney (yet another new blog!), I took the survey put up by George Loewenstein and others on whether you are a tightwad or a spendthrift.

People who think of themselves as either tightwads or spendthrifts supposedly are less happy than people in between. But I think of myself as a tightwad (I don't know how I came out in the survey) and I think of myself as happy. And, as you know, I think of happiness research as mostly bunk.

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CATEGORIES: Behavioral Economics and Rationality

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Lord writes:

Tightwads and spendthifts usually have psychological problems compared to those in between. Tightwads can't bear to part with money which they see as part of themselves while spendthifts cast it away in the hope it will bring happiness. Spend less than what you earn but not less than what you can afford.

Posted January 17, 2007 3:03 PM

Snark writes:

Dr. Kling,

...I think of happiness research as mostly bunk.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuck would be dissappointed to hear this. After all, Gross National Happiness (GNH) is the royal metric by which quality of life is measured in Bhutan.

Posted January 18, 2007 4:07 PM

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