Living in a larger home does not necessarily lead to greater happiness. The benefits of additional living space quickly fade when people start comparing their home to those of their neighbours. Clément Bellet, Assistant Professor in the field of marketing at Erasmus School of Economics, explains this mechanism in The Washington Post.
Bellet describes this phenomenon as the McMansion effect. His research shows that the satisfaction people gain from moving into a larger home is largely erased when nearby houses are even bigger. What matters for well-being is not the absolute size of a home, but its size relative to the largest houses in the neighbourhood.
According to Bellet, this comparison-driven dynamic creates a collective deadlock. When households compete for larger homes, average house sizes increase, but no one is better off. Similar to a stadium where everyone stands up to see better, individual actions cancel each other out, leaving overall well-being unchanged or even diminished.
Finally, Bellet contrasts the American emphasis on large, private homes with the European context. In Europe, well-being depends less on the home itself and more on access to walkable neighbourhoods, public spaces and social infrastructure. This reduces the pressure on housing as a marker of status and helps explain why smaller homes can still support high levels of life satisfaction.
- Assistant professor
- More information
You can read the full article from The Washington Post, 6 January 2026, above.
For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media and Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics, rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, or +31 6 53 641 846.
