Money – Happiness Relationship

Background of one of my forthcoming chapters… On #happiness, #income & #HumanWellBeing ….

 

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Last 2 decades have produced voluminous literature on happiness, well-being, and quality-of-life. Objectively the world has become a better place to live; science has solved many problems and has made life comfortable and easy; economically last century has witnessed tremendous growth; per capita income grew by around 6 times whereas population grew by around 4.6 times; and the world GDP has grown by more than thirty times.

Amid all these visible indicators the problems of depression, stress, health hazards, family disputes, work-life conflict, discrimination, crime, emotional imbalances, social alienation, climate change, etc. are hindering human progress. The inequalities are on the rise and aspiration levels for material well-being are high. This in result is affecting happiness and peace of individuals. The puzzle of income and happiness has been in the domain of research for social scientists to solve it in such a way that individuals and societies live in peace and harmony. This chapter is an effort to look at the prominent works and argue around the theme—does money makes us happy? Or not. 

There are many things which money cannot buy. The priorities of life are much different for different people, yet all want to lead a happy life. The physical comforts can be bought through money but they are not all that is important for life. The dialectics of money and happiness is intimidating, engrossing and worth exploring. My paper in press is a reflection of this interesting relationship.