this is good news, I guess. Ananova : Researcher finds link between alcohol intake and wealth A university professor has found on average the more people drink, the more they earn. Professor Chris Auld says his research confirms the so-called alcohol-income puzzle. His research shows people found to drink more than average are also more likely to be successful and earn more. The economics don at the University of Calgary in Canada has just been given more funding to research the alcohol link to earnings. He says reasons behind the correlation could be stress of a high-paying job driving people to drink or that more sociable people are more likely to achieve career success. The findings should not be construed as an excuse to drink your way up the ladder, adds Prof Auld. "The puzzle is why are we finding this," he told the Calgary Sun. He jokes his extra funding will allow him to "buy more rounds at the bar". Story filed: 14:44 Tuesday 16th April 2002 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_568176.html?menu=news.latestheadlines
Exactly. I don't think it's too hard to see that they have it backward here. People don't drink and become rich. People become rich and drink. They drink because in upper class circles it is a socially acceptable way to escape the pressures of a high-paying, high-stress job. Studies like this make me question the common sense of researchers.
Well, I better stop drinking then...I don't want to get rich because then I'd have to pay a higher percentage of taxes. THE HORROR!!!!!
They forgot to include this in the article... <i>Study paid for by the alcohol distillers of America!</i>
I didn't read the article, but my first thought was basically, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" High paying jobs are, for the most part, stressful. It's the stress that leads these people to drink heavily.
I wonder how much, if any, effort they took to survey the homeless. I suspect if you trully sampled all US persons you would find a U shaped curve a simple correlation would not show-- where a small group of the highest alcohol consumers are on the bottom of the economic ladder. You can't just use random telephone surveys or randomly interview households to find this out though.
