Income raises human well-being indefinitely, but age consistently slashes it

Abstract

The relationships among human well-being, income, and age have long been debated. The association between human well-being and income is believed to be U-shaped, although the reasons remain elusive. A recent study shows a turning point in the link between human well-being and income; that is, increased income does not always improve well-being. However, the mechanisms of the effects of income and age on human well-being are unknown. Here, we illustrate the total cumulative effects of income and age on evaluated well-being through all observed causal pathways based on a 1.6-million-observation global dataset and the structural causal model. This is the first study to investigate those casual relationships globally. We find that an increase in age always reduces evaluated well-being, and the adverse effects are aggravated with age. Furthermore, increased income continuously improves human well-being, but the impacts gradually become marginal with higher income. Our results demonstrate that physical health improvement in older people is the most effective way to intervene against the harmful effects of age on well-being. Moreover, increased income may dramatically enhance the well-being of people living close to the poverty line.