Does relocation bring happiness?

Today's Wall Street Journal column, Getting Going by Jonathan Clements (Page D1 of the Personal Journal)reviews the age-old question: Why what you have is never enough. He reports a study by academics Daniel Kahnemanand David Schkade. They asked university students in 2 US locations - midwest and California - where they think "someone like themselves would be happier." Both picked California, mostly because of the weather. But, say the authors, you're doing a lot of the same things in both places: grocery shopping, chores and work. True. But grocery shopping feels different here at the Metropolitan Market or Trader Joe's, as compared to a Safeway or Albertson's that's the only game in town. And chores actually vary. When I lived in a house, my chores were quite different. In a smaller town, or certain regions of the country (or world), you may trouble hiring services to meet your specific needs. In the US, many large cities feature services on craigslist.com -- affordable and accessible. Sometimes the geographic cure really works. Sometimes the grass really is greener...literally and metaphorically.