Relation between happiness points and citizen income

[US of Europe]

This topic may look partly like the other topic currently in Gameplay Discussions, but as that one was more referring to the formula to calculate certain things in excel, and not necessarily about the relation between happiness and citizen income, I thought a new topic would be better.

I'm only interested in the exact relation between them, or how to calculate this. In short, I have heard many people claiming the happiness points give $2 on average, but, like average already says, this is not always the same. It very much depends on a lot of parameters, more or less the size and prosperity of a nation. For larger nations I think it used to be somewhat higher, and I already saw somebody saying that he had somewhere near the $4 when he had a slightly larger nation ( link to post/statement ).

The main reason why I would like to know the effects of happiness on income, is to calculate which improvement does no longer benefit me, and more importantly, to calculate which wonder is likely to be my best option, in my situation. I know of the discussion between the SSS and the Stock Market, though happiness plays a crucial role in most descriptions of wonders.

On this moment, I will be curious to know how I can either determine, or calculate, my income boost per citizen for every happiness point. On this moment, I simple change my tax rate and see what the differences are in happiness point, and also see what my new 'Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day:' is. When I've written down a couple of different rates, and happiness point levels with the corrosponding new 'Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day' amounts I calculate the total difference caused by the total happiness increase or decrease and can then calculate what 1 level of happiness would mean for me in terms of average gross citizen income. My problem is: my method assumes that changing the tax rates, only affects the total income as the happiness level is changed, and that happiness is the only factor which is changed which affects income.

I am curious to see if this is correct or incorrect.

Some stats for those who would like to calculate:

tax rate: 28%

Happiness level: 66.10

Citizens: 50,543

Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day: $344.94 (A very solid economy)

Environment: 1.00

tax rate: 25%

Happiness level: 68.10

Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day: $353.24

My conclusion would be that one happiness point is worth $4.15 for me (and nations of similar size), though I doubted this conclusion as this would mean the Stock Market (thought to be one of the best wonders) is not even worth to buy and comes as one of the lasts options (or the last option rather, depending on whether I am qualified to be able to buy a National War Memorial or not.

Thanks in advantage for either confirming my method, or helping me out.

Edited October 13, 2007 by US of Europe

[shingo]

This topic may look partly like the other topic currently in Gameplay Discussions, but as that one was more referring to the formula to calculate certain things in excel, and not necessarily about the relation between happiness and citizen income, I thought a new topic would be better.

I'm only interested in the exact relation between them, or how to calculate this. In short, I have heard many people claiming the happiness points give $2 on average, but, like average already says, this is not always the same. It very much depends on a lot of parameters, more or less the size and prosperity of a nation. For larger nations I think it used to be somewhat higher, and I already saw somebody saying that he had somewhere near the $4 when he had a slightly larger nation ( link to post/statement ).

The main reason why I would like to know the effects of happiness on income, is to calculate which improvement does no longer benefit me, and more importantly, to calculate which wonder is likely to be my best option, in my situation. I know of the discussion between the SSS and the Stock Market, though happiness plays a crucial role in most descriptions of wonders.

On this moment, I will be curious to know how I can either determine, or calculate, my income boost per citizen for every happiness point. On this moment, I simple change my tax rate and see what the differences are in happiness point, and also see what my new 'Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day:' is. When I've written down a couple of different rates, and happiness point levels with the corrosponding new 'Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day' amounts I calculate the total difference caused by the total happiness increase or decrease and can then calculate what 1 level of happiness would mean for me in terms of average gross citizen income. My problem is: my method assumes that changing the tax rates, only affects the total income as the happiness level is changed, and that happiness is the only factor which is changed which affects income.

I am curious to see if this is correct or incorrect.

Some stats for those who would like to calculate:

tax rate: 28%

Happiness level: 66.10

Citizens: 50,543

Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day: $344.94 (A very solid economy)

Environment: 1.00

tax rate: 25%

Happiness level: 68.10

Avg. Gross Income Per Individual Per Day: $353.24

My conclusion would be that one happiness point is worth $4.15 for me (and nations of similar size), though I doubted this conclusion as this would mean the Stock Market (thought to be one of the best wonders) is not even worth to buy and comes as one of the lasts options (or the last option rather, depending on whether I am qualified to be able to buy a National War Memorial or not.

Thanks in advantage for either confirming my method, or helping me out.

SSS lets you raise taxes to 30%, so after tax income is (344.94 x .30) $103.42.....

stock market raises income $10 per person (344.94 +10= 354.94}... 354.94 x .28 = 99.38.

not really close....SSS is better way to go.

[US of Europe]

thanks for the reply. Though I am more interested how happiness influences income, and already knew that the SSS is the best wonder, and the stock market isn't even an option. I was wondering this, as I wasn't absolutely sure anymore that one happiness point is worth 4.15 dollars for me, and I asked several people but this has not led to answers yet. I only posted the discussion about wonders (and especially the stock market) as many people proclaim that the Stock Market is one of the best wonders, and many people in similar situations like I am bought the Stock Market, thus this made me think that either my calculations are wrong (as the SM is one of the worst wonders for me), or that a general consensus is wrong that the stock market is one of the best wonders (after SSS, though as the SSS is more expensive, the SM is thought to be comparible).

Perhaps I should rephrase my question (and disregard all the other given information and background) to:

how do you calculate the worth of one happiness point?

and preferable answered by somebody who is into these maths as well and is completely sure about it.

[Count Rupert]

SSS lets you raise taxes to 30%, so after tax income is (344.94 x .30) $103.42.....

stock market raises income $10 per person (344.94 +10= 354.94}... 354.94 x .28 = 99.38.

not really close....SSS is better way to go.

Your math's off a little bit. The $10 the SM provides also gets the the benefit from the improvements, same as if it were +5 happiness which means, with all the improvements, the SM is worth $20.75, so it's closer than you think since it's (344.94 + 20.75 = 365.69...365.69*.28 = 102.39

By definition established by admin, base happiness (with no improvements) is worth $2 a point. There is no average where someone has less and someone more, everyone starts with happiness at $2 a point. Adding Income improvements will increase what the base happiness is worth. Harbors add 6%, Schools add 5%, Universities add 8% and Banks add 7%. Thus it looks like this:

(base = 2.00)*(One Harbor@1.06)*(5 Schools = 25% = 1.25)*(2Universities = 16% = 1.16) *(5 Banks = 35% = 1.35) = 4.1499 or $4.15

So if you have all the income producing improvements, a happiness point is worth 4.15.

The error you're making with the SM is you're adding the income from the SM ($10) to your already modified income. It too enjoys the same modification as happiness points thus with all the income improvements, the SM's $10 is really $20.75 (same as it would be if it were a +5 happiness wonder to which it is compared). So compared to the other +5 happiness wonders, it's better because it is $5 million cheaper. Everyone will concede that the SSS will make more money than the SM, but it costs $10 million more and hence has a much longer payback period. Since most of the discussions center around it being the first wonder purchase, starting the wonder cycle as quickly as possible enters into the equation with the SM coming out ahead based on it's cheap price relative to the other comparable wonders and it garners nearly the same income as the SSS for a far lower entry cost.

[US of Europe]

Your math's off a little bit. The $10 the SM provides also gets the the benefit from the improvements, same as if it were +5 happiness which means, with all the improvements, the SM is worth $20.75, so it's closer than you think since it's (344.94 + 20.75 = 365.69...365.69*.28 = 102.39

By definition established by admin, base happiness (with no improvements) is worth $2 a point. There is no average where someone has less and someone more, everyone starts with happiness at $2 a point. Adding Income improvements will increase what the base happiness is worth. Harbors add 6%, Schools add 5%, Universities add 8% and Banks add 7%. Thus it looks like this:

(base = 2.00)*(One Harbor@1.06)*(5 Schools = 25% = 1.25)*(2Universities = 16% = 1.16) *(5 Banks = 35% = 1.35) = 4.1499 or $4.15

So if you have all the income producing improvements, a happiness point is worth 4.15.

The error you're making with the SM is you're adding the income from the SM ($10) to your already modified income. It too enjoys the same modification as happiness points thus with all the income improvements, the SM's $10 is really $20.75 (same as it would be if it were a +5 happiness wonder to which it is compared). So compared to the other +5 happiness wonders, it's better because it is $5 million cheaper. Everyone will concede that the SSS will make more money than the SM, but it costs $10 million more and hence has a much longer payback period. Since most of the discussions center around it being the first wonder purchase, starting the wonder cycle as quickly as possible enters into the equation with the SM coming out ahead based on it's cheap price relative to the other comparable wonders and it garners nearly the same income as the SSS for a far lower entry cost.

Thank you for explaining, I indeed didn't know that the $10 citizen income is also again increased by all the modifiers caused by improvements and the modifiers also explain all the questions I had. Mods may now close this topic.

Edited October 13, 2007 by US of Europe

[shopt]

Adding Income improvements will increase what the base happiness is worth. Harbors add 6%, Schools add 5%, Universities add 8% and Banks add 7%. Thus it looks like this:

(base = 2.00)*(One Harbor@1.06)*(5 Schools = 25% = 1.25)*(2Universities = 16% = 1.16) *(5 Banks = 35% = 1.35) = 4.1499 or $4.15

So if you have all the income producing improvements, a happiness point is worth 4.15.

Harbor is 1% (not 6%), Foreign Ministry is 5% (which you missed out), so the calc is 2*1.01*1.05*1.25*1.16*1.35=4.1519

Doesn't change the calc much but I've corrected it anyway.