Via Will Wilkinson comes an article from WebMD by Sid Kirchheimer: Sex Better Than Money for Happiness. Key quote:

Good news for folks whose bedrooms have more activity than their bank accounts: New research shows that sex is better for your happiness than money.

That's not to say that being financially poor but sexually active is the secret to a happy life. But despite common theory, more money doesn't get you more sex, say "happiness economics" researchers.

After analyzing data on the self-reported levels of sexual activity and happiness of 16,000 people, Dartmouth College economist David Blachflower and Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England report that sex "enters so strongly (and) positively in happiness equations" that they estimate increasing intercourse from once a month to once a week is equivalent to the amount of happiness generated by getting an additional $50,000 in income for the average American.

[...]

Overall, the happiest folks are those getting the most sex -- married people, who report 30% more between-the-sheets action than single folks. In fact, the economists calculate that a lasting marriage equates to happiness generated by getting an extra $100,000 each year. Divorce, meanwhile, translates to a happiness depletion of $66,000 annually.

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$50,000 extra a year or weekly good sex? Tough choice. I have to assume the $50k is after-tax income, since that's what we actually get to use once the government is done stealing from us. Otherwise, that additional income would be more like $39,000 for my tax bracket.

The extra income would translate into $4166.67 more per month. I already make about $1,500 a month, so that's more than double what I earn now. In less than a year, I could pay my parents for the balance on my car, obliterate my small-but-ever-present credit card balance, pay off my computer loan, and save and invest a much much greater portion of my income for future use.

Then there's the awesome fringe benefit of not having to hesitate walking into a record store or bookshop. From my closet's perspective, a suddenly affordable wardrobe overhaul would become feasible. I could get a second pair of prescription glasses to replace my daily-use pair. That way I could use the pair I have now for dirtier, grimier tasks like working out or jogging. I would be able to get new wheels and rims for my car and tinker with the engine to get more power. My home computer could be replaced with something better. Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money for me and I wouldn't run out of spending ideas.

But then there's good sex every week. Since it's such a personal subject, I can't effectively articulate how important that would be to me, other than to contrast it with what I wrote above and assert the trade-off between the two choices is hard to quantify. I'm not a virgin but sexual intimacy is rare for me, approaching an average of once a year or so. I just turned 24 years old and I'm a male, so that speaks for itself.

Tough choice. Do you, Dear Reader, have an opinion?