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Article: Does money buy happiness? Moguls are dreaming up yet more sophisticated objects for the new super-rich to buy
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 23, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1999 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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MAYBE MONEY can't buy you love, but perhaps it can buy you
happiness. The shop-till-you-drop, "retail therapy" culture may
have become more dominant in the last few years, particularly in the
US and UK, which have seen seven or eight years of solid consumer
growth. But are we really any happier for it?
One person who thinks we are not is Robert Frank, a US economics
professor whose new book, Luxury Fever, has been causing a bit of a
stir in the States. He believes that we live in an age of "profound
waste". The very rich spend their money on Cartier watches, Lexus
sports cars, Prada trousers and, at the top of the range, Gulfstream
jets. Yet they are still dissatisfied. The world's ...