Student’s Research Looks at Relationship between Money & Happiness

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) student Manuel Hoffmann is intrigued by the intersection of money and happiness.  He's conducting an economic experiment dubbed “Money and Happiness: Spending, Savings and Happiness,” with TAMIU students as participants March 18-20.

An exchange student from Germany, he’s working with counterparts at his home institution of the University of Trier to complete his research experiment here.

“We are hoping to measure the influence of savings and spending on happiness.  We will have two distinct student experiments and a questionnaire  which take in total one hour,” he explained.

And there’s also a small financial incentive for participants, Hoffmann noted.

“Based on the decisions made by experiment participants, it’s possible for them to earn some pocket money and we guarantee that each participant who shows up for the experiment on time will earn a minimum flat rate of $2.50,” he said.

Hoffmann developed the experiment proposal with German students Jennifer Gerhards and Cornelius Hecking as well as Prof. Oliver Rieger, chair of Banking and Finance at Trier. Here at TAMIU the project is under the guidance of Distinguished Professor Dr. Bill Gruben of the A. R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business as part of Hoffman’s Masters degree program in Business

Students interested in participating in the “Money and Happiness” experiment project can contact Hoffmann at manuel.hoffmann@ymail.com

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu