I answer this question using data from over 50,000 people.
What did you do?
I proved that elderly people (ages 55+) who have a higher net worth of cars tend to be happier. I also found significant small increases in happiness as the value of people's vehicles go to the next (higher) price bin, ex: from 20-40K to 40-60K. In other words, there is a consistent increase in happiness when a person's vehicle net worth is in higher ranges. Having an expensive car does not make you happy - this is not the finding of this analysis. The findings are that people who have a higher net worth of vehicles tend to be happier. This finding supports the literature that wealthier people tend to be happier, by furthering this idea by specifically examining the relationship between a person's net worth of vehicles and their happiness, using information collected on over 50 thousand elderly people.
Statistic techniques deployed
Logistic regression models - one with a quantitative predictor, the other, categorical.
Information Related to Data
The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of approximately 20,000 people in America, supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration.Through its unique and in-depth interviews, the HRS provides an invaluable and growing body of multidisciplinary data that researchers can use to address important questions about the challenges and opportunities of aging.
Source of data: https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/data-products
Information about variables used: https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/sites/default/files/documentation/other/1680723673/randhrs1992_2020v1.pdf