A new economics paper has some old-fashioned advice for people navigating the stresses of life: Find a spouse who is also your best friend. Social scientists have long known that【C1】_____people tend to be happier, but they debate whether that is because marriage causes happiness or simply because happier people are more【C2】__to get married. The new paper,【C3】__by the National Bureau of Economic Research, controlled for pre-marriage happiness levels. It【C4】__that being married makes people happier and more satisfied【C5】_____ their lives than those who remain single—particularly during the most stressful periods, like【C6】________crises.

Even as fewer people are marrying, the disadvantages of remaining single have broad【C7】_____. It’s important【C8】__marriage is increasingly a force behind inequality.【C9】__marriages are more common among educated, high-income people, and increasingly out of reach for those who are not. That divide appears to 【C10】_____not just people’s income and family stability, but also their happiness and stress levels.

A quarter of today’s young adults will have never married by 2030, which would be the highest【C11】________ in modern history, according to Pew Research Center.【C12】_____both remaining unmarried and divorcing are more common among less-educated, lower-income people.【C13】_____, high-income people still marry at high rates and are less likely to divorce.

Those whose lives are most difficult could【C14】_____most from marriage, according to the economists who wrote the new paper, John Helliwell and Shawn Grover. “Marriage may be most important when there is that stress in life and when things are going【C15】_____,” Mr. Grover said.

【C16】_____marital happiness long outlasted the honeymoon period.【C17】__some social scientists have argued that happiness levels are innate, so people return to their natural level of well-being【C18】__joyful or upsetting events, the researchers found that the benefits of marriage persist. One【C19】__for that might be the role of friendship within marriage. Those who【C20】_____their spouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction from marriage as others, the study found.

The old saying goes “money can’t buy happiness,” but a new study finds that’s not true.【C1】_____previous studies find there’s a limit to how much a person’ s【C2】__impacts their happiness, a researcher from the University of Pennsylvania says the sky’s the limit when it comes to money’s【C3】_____over well-being.

“It’s one of the most studied questions in my field,” says Matthew Killingsworth from Perm’s Wharton School in a university release. “I’ m very【C4】_____in it. Other scientists are curious about it. It’s something everyone is【C5】__all the time.” Killingsworth’s study examined nearly two million data points from over 33,000 people. Other studies on income and happiness【C6】__that money stops mattering at around $75,000. The results of the new study,【C7】__, reveal that rising income continues to【C8】_____the earners’ well-being even into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

While most studies of money and happiness【C9】_____evaluative well-being, embracing overall【C10】__, Killingsworth’s surveys looked at both evaluative and【C11】__well-being through an app he created, an application that takes into【C12】_____how someone feels at that very moment during the survey.

The app also measured secondary measures of well-being including five【C13】_____feelings (confident, good, inspired, interested, and proud),【C14】__seven negative ones (afraid, angry, bad, bored, sad, stressed, and upset). “This process provided【C15】__slices of people’s lives, which【C16】__gives us a composite image, a stop-motion movie of their lives,” Killingsworth says. “Scientists often talk about trying to get a representative sample of the population. I was trying to get a representative sample of the【C17】_____in people’s lives.”

Killingsworth finds one of the main【C18】_____between money and increasing happiness is the【C19】__a higher income gives people. “When you have more money, you have more choices about【C20】_____to live your life. Across decisions big and small, having more money gives a person more choices and a greater sense of autonomy.” he concludes.