Uncategorized | June 07, 2004

In The Wall Street Journal this morning, buried amidst articles on increasing inflation and rising tech stocks, it was reported that more sex is as good as higher pay. Journalist Joe E. Hilsenrath quotes findings from economist David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College that “going from having sex once a month to having it at least weekly is roughly equivalent to the amount of happiness that an extra $50,000 of income would bring to an average American.” This strikes me as good news for writers. While most of us have very little chance of making an extra $50,000 a year from our writing at least we have time for more sex. I am married to a writer so our potential for a raise is even greater.

But don’t take this news as an excuse for promiscuity. Blanchflower found that “the happiness-optimizing number of sexual partners per years is one.”