If not, looks like we’re there now:
The latest addition to the burgeoning field of “happiness economics” has a sobering message for Britain: this is as good as it gets.
For years, economists have debated if there is a cut-off point beyond which growth adds nothing to wellbeing. Now – in a study published on Thursday, the day that official figures show the fastest growth for three years – two economists have gone a step further and estimated that “sweet spot” with some precision. And the UK has reached it.
According to Eugenio Proto of Warwick University and Aldo Rustichini of University of Minnesota, life satisfaction peaks when incomes per head – adjusted so that money buys the same basket of goods and services worldwide – reach $36,000 (£22,000) a year. Per capita incomes in the UK on this basis are $37,000. Beyond this point, they say, we get richer but less contented.
Study here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0079358