At the very least, it has put a necessary end to an era of reckless personal spending.

至少，它为不计后果的个人消费时代画上了一个必要的句号。

"Personal spending was unrelated to happiness, " said the researchers.

研究人员发现：“个人消费与幸福无关。

And while personal income rose by more than expected, climbing 0.4% in December, personal spending rose by 0.2%, less than economists expected.

12月的个人收入超过预期，上涨了0.4%，个人支出弱于预期下降了0.2%。

When the researchers surveyed another group of students, they found that most of the respondents predicted that personal spending would make them happier than spending the money on other people.

研究人员也曾对另一组大学生做过类似实验，得出的结果却正好相反，他们中大部分人觉得自己的钱自己花更容易让人接受。