But there’s more. Here’s the same headline graph, but plotting the relationship between z-score changes in well-being and income NOT using a log scale—courtesy of my colleague @JoelMcGuire12 at @HappierLivesIns—not so impressive anymore, am I right?
I’m by no means an expert at this, but doesn’t it kind of make sense to think of this in terms of log income? I expect most people find it intuitive that there’s diminishing returns to money, and IMO the plot without a log scale on the x-axis is more misleading, as 80% of the plot is taken up with income changes that affect a tiny proportion of people, whereas most people’s income will move around in the far-left part of the plot (where you see the largest changes in life satisfaction and well-being).
I’m by no means an expert at this, but doesn’t it kind of make sense to think of this in terms of log income? I expect most people find it intuitive that there’s diminishing returns to money, and IMO the plot without a log scale on the x-axis is more misleading, as 80% of the plot is taken up with income changes that affect a tiny proportion of people, whereas most people’s income will move around in the far-left part of the plot (where you see the largest changes in life satisfaction and well-being).