One of the biggest problems with Deaton & Kahneman's "happiness doesn't increase after $75k" is that cost of living is very different from place-to-place. At least this article points it out.<p>In the best version I can find (anyone have a link to the original paper?), they don't address this in their study. <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&ved=0CDwQFjADOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aeaweb.org%2Faea%2F2013conference%2Fprogram%2Fretrieve.php%3Fpdfid%3D395&ei=PXGBUcPiLKasigKz84D4Bg&usg=AFQjCNEwZAx9yZ0LBY9KQW_Oo5kOUK_tVA&sig2=Q2Rlo2zhXNxoL6O80ro5Dg&bvm=bv.45921128,d.cGE" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&...</a><p>Money doesn't buy happiness. But it has a role.