Study: Sex better than money for happiness

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 7 (UPI) -- Economic researchers have determined more frequent sex can elevate a person's happiness level to the same height as a $50,000 raise.

In a paper submitted to the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private group in Cambridge, Mass., economists David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Andrew Oswald of Warwick University in England calculateed 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 the average American.

"The effect of sex on happiness is statistically well-determined ... and large," the authors conclude. "This is true for males and females, and for those under and over the age of 40."

Among other findings, Blanchflower and Oswald found that higher-income individuals do not have sex any more often, or have any more partners, than lower-income people, the Wall Street Journal said.