Part of it was that the study, if you are thinking of the same one as me, referenced the concept that: would you work twice as hard for $100k as you would for $50k? Like if the latter was a 40hr/week job, would you work a 80hr/week one for twice the pay? At some point you start to dip into diminishing returns - like you’ll work a bit harder but not TWICE as hard, so after that point, each additional dollar is not worth as much as those before that point.

Which makes perfect sense - like if you could make 100k at 50hrs per week, what’s the point of making 200k at 100hrs per week, it’s just too stressful to try to keep up?! At some point, with your basic needs met, you are no longer as aggressive at chasing down additional funds, and people would generally prefer to relax a bit, and Quality of Life concerns rise to the foreground over money.

And there’s probably other considerations as well, e.g. working for yourself vs. others.