How much happiness can 2 million USD buy? with Elizabeth Dunn

The TED Interview

TED

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity

How much happiness could be gained if more people had access to wealth? Does the relationship between spending money and happiness change when people are in different economic classes? And if chosen randomly, what would YOU do with $10,000? These are questions that Elizabeth Dunn, a social psychologist and professor, posed in a recent study. She researches how people can optimize time, money and technology to maximize their own happiness. In December 2020, TED teamped up with Elizabeth’s researchers to distribute $10,000 to each of 200 random recipients in seven countries to understand how the use of this cash would contribute to their happiness. The end result was fascinating — and at this live event at the TED2024 conference in Vancouver, Elizabeth and Chris dive into the findings.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Audio Collective.
0:04.0	Hello everyone.
0:06.0	Hello everyone.
0:10.0	I'm Chris Anderson. Welcome to the TED interview. This season
0:17.1	we're delving deep into the concept of generosity, which I've come to believe is the
0:22.2	single most crucial idea that our modern world needs.
0:26.0	It's an idea that I've spent the last three years thinking about and researching for a book titled Infectious Generosity. Now today's episode is a special one for two reasons.
0:37.0	First of all I'm sitting in front of a live audience at TED 2024. The audience is full of brilliant people and they will be helping
0:46.2	co-create this episode by asking questions part way through and then secondly
0:51.2	our guest today.
0:53.0	She has played a catalytic role in developing my thinking about generosity.
1:00.0	Her name is Elizabeth Dunn.
1:02.0	She's a social psychology professor. Her name is Elizabeth Dunn.
1:02.6	She's a social psychology professor at the University of British Columbia.
1:08.0	And apart from delivering a beautiful TED Talk on the links between generosity and happiness, she also was involved
1:15.9	in an experience which forced me to go ahead and write this book.
1:19.8	Honestly, we will be talking about that shortly.
1:23.0	But for now, please join me in welcoming Elizabeth Dunn. Ever wish you could look around the corner to make sense of today's big
1:43.7	business and social issues and prepare for what's coming tomorrow? Dozens of
1:48.0	podcasts promise to bring you the latest news and the latest trends, but
1:52.0	where's the so what? But where's the so what?
	...

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