In 1974 Richard Easterlin wrote a seminal article which found that richer people are on average happier than poorer people (a cross-sectional fact) but that over time within different societies the population does not on average become happier when they country's income rises (a time-series fact). This came to be known as the Easterlin paradox.
1974年，理查德·伊斯特林写了一篇很有创意的文章，他发现富人通常比穷人幸福些（代表性事实），但是在不同的社会，随着时间流逝，当国家的收入提高时人们并不会随之感到更加幸福（时间序列事实）。这个就是我们熟知的伊斯特林悖论。
Income is not the most important factor in determining happiness.
收入不是决定幸福最重要的因素。
Relative income i.e. income relative to others of the same age, sex, education is the only one that matters when it comes to happiness. Absolute income is not that important.
相对性收入，也就是相对于同年龄、同性别、同教育水平的其他人的收入，这个才影响幸福。绝对收入并不重要。