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Lotteries And Happiness

NPR

Today on The Indicator, the hedonic treadmill. This is the idea that when something really great happens to us, like winning the lottery, we might be really happy at first. But eventually we just get used to our new life — and we go back to our baseline level of happiness. Researchers in Sweden have concluded that that does happen, but it's only part of the story.

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Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money, and is a correspondent for Planet Money.
Cardiff Garcia is a co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money podcast, along with Stacey Vanek Smith. He joined NPR in November 2017.