Good point. Now that you are pointing this out I see this reflected in the behavior off my friends. I have friends in the US who make very high salaries but are much more focused on that and piling up money for retirement as quickly as possible whereas my friends in Europe are earning much less but are prioritizing happiness. At the same time some of the offers I've seen for the same people at different companies for the same person differed by significantly more than my European friends' entire compensation.