Buddhist Thought on Happiness and Income Growth Relations Across Varying Income Countries

Buddhists view happiness as “temporary” since all individuals regardless of being rich or poor, young or old, educated or uneducated suffer aging, illness and death as well as anxiety and stress. Money or wealth always changes, making reliance on it for sustained happiness is misguided. The study explores the nexus between subjective well-being and income growth by using Gallup World Pool (GWP) survey data. The sample size includes a sample of 78 countries consists of 17 high income economies, 25 upper-middle income economies, 14 lower-middle income economies and 22 low-income economies from 2006 to 2023. For data analysis, we used a sequence of advanced econometric modeling approach for robust results whereas Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) and Bayesian variable selection (BASAD) methods were used for variable selection and a Bayesian dynamic nonlinear panel (BDNP) model for the nexus estimation. We found that freedom of life choices, generosity and perception of corruption have highest posterior probabilities based on a mix-order variable selection method utilizing BART and BASAD. Main results reveal that (1) freedom to make life choices, generosity and perception of corruption in higher income countries, generosity and healthy life expectancy at birth in upper middle-income countries, freedom to make life choices and generosity in lower middle-income countries, and healthy life expectancy at birth and freedom to make life choices in lower income countries are found to be important factors on subjective well-being, (2) income and real GDP growth have mixed and small effects on subjective well-being (SWB) across countries with varying income levels, and (3) generosity and freedom to make life choices were found to have highest positive impact on SWB. This study is the first to discussing the Buddhist perspective on money or wealth in happiness based on the empirical evidence of income, economic growth and SWB.