How much money do you need to lead your “absolutely perfect life”? The answer for most people, according to a new study by university psychologists, is $ 10 million (£ 8.6 million) – but not Americans, who say they need at least $ 100 million and often demand $ 100 billion.
Researchers at the universities of Bath, Bath Spa and Exeter have found that, contrary to the assumption that everyone wants to be as rich as possible, most people say they would be happy with a few million.
A survey of nearly 8,000 people around the world found that in 86% of countries, the majority of people believe they can achieve their ideal life with $ 10 million or less.
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In Argentina, India and Russia, more than 50% of people said they would like $ 1 million or less. In the United States, however, the majority of people said they would need at least $ 100 million or more to live a perfect life, with 31.7% (the most popular answer) saying they would want at least $ 100 billion.
In the UK, the most popular answer (26%) was $ 1 million, and a majority said 10 million or less would be enough. Thirteen percent said they would like $ 100 billion or more.
“The basic economic principle that everyone is motivated by ‘unlimited desires’, stuck on a consumer treadmill and seeking to amass as much wealth as possible is wrong,” said a study published in Nature Sustainability. “[The] belief in this principle also has severe consequences for the health of the planet. The pursuit of ever-increasing individual wealth and the pursuit of endless economic growth was costly. As wealth increases, so does resource use and pollution. “
Dr Paul Bain, a leading researcher and reader in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, said that while the numbers in typical answers sound like a lot of money, “when they are considered to be the ideal wealth of a person in his lifetime, they are relatively moderate ”.
“The ideology of unlimited desires, when portrayed as human nature, can create social pressure on people to buy more than they actually want,” he said. “Finding that most people’s ideal lives are actually quite moderate can make it socially easier for people to behave in ways that are more in line with what makes them truly happy and support stronger policies. to protect the planet.
Dr Renata Bonjourno, co-author of the report and a social psychologist at Bath Spa University and the University of Exeter, said: people.
“If most people are striving for wealth that is limited, policies that support more limited people’s desires, such as a wealth tax to fund sustainability initiatives, may be more popular than is often the case.”
A growing coalition of politicians and opinion leaders is calling for wealth taxes around the world to help close the “stunning” gap between the richest and the poorest in society.
Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has called on the UK government to impose a tax on the wealth of the super-rich to help tackle “spiral inequality”, which he said is “deeply detrimental to our collective morals and trust”.
“Spiral inequality is a major problem in our society, and all the evidence shows that it is deeply detrimental to our collective morality and trust,” Williams said. “The wealth tax of the kind we support recognizes that extremely disproportionate rewards for a very small number of citizens will not contribute to a cohesive and just national community.
Williams told the super-rich that they should not see the return of the wider society as a tax burden, but as “an opportunity to build a stable, sustainable economy that works for all.”
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Government figures show that the richest 1% of households in the UK have at least 3.6 million pounds. At the other end of the scale, the poorest 10% of households have £ 15,400 or less, with almost half burdened with more debt than they have in assets, according to data released by the National Statistics Office.
A wealth tax on the first 1% could generate at least £ 70 billion a year, according to a study from the University of Greenwich. This would be equivalent to 8% of the current total tax, but would affect only about 250,000 households.
The Wealth Tax Commission, set up in 2020 to examine the costs and benefits of imposing a wealth tax, has recommended a one-off tax of 1% for households over £ 1 million. It says the tax will generate £ 260 billion – more than enough to cover NHS’s one-year funding and welfare costs.
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