The Beatles sang that money can"t buy you love. But what about happiness Research consistently shows that the more money people have, the【C1】______likely they are to report【C2】______satisfied with their lives. And that makes【C3】______; money buys you things that make life easier and more satisfying; the【C4】______your life, the happier you tend to be. That【C5】______isn"t entirely linear, since there"s a limit to how【C6】______wealth can please you; the happiness benefit of an increasing income is especially powerful【C7】______people who don"t have much money to start with, and diminishes as wealth【C8】______But studies also reveal that【C9】______average income levels have risen【C10】______time—in the U. S. and European nations, for example—residents of those countries have not reported being any happier than people【C11】______30 or 40 years ago. It"s a paradox that【C12】______income and happiness may be associated within a population at any given moment, overall economic growth does【C13】______appear to correspond to a boost in national satisfaction over time.(See a gallery of things money can buy.) To understand why, researchers at the University of Warwick and Cardiff University decided to break down how individual people【C14】______their income. What does wealth【C15】______to people Previous work has suggested that people tend to value their own wealth more—and are happier—when it compares favorably to everyone【C16】______The so-called reference-income hypothesis holds that it"s not simply how much money you【C17】______that contributes to satisfaction,【C18】______how much more money you make than, say, the national average. The higher your salary than the norm, the happier you tend to be. That could explain in part【C19】______populations as a whole do not experience sunnier dispositions with economic growth, since a majority of individuals may not fall above the national income【C20】______ 【C1】