Is financial wealth enough to be happy?
Does money buy happiness? If so, how much money do you need to be happy? And what is happiness anyway?
As the researchers wrote, "Andrew Carnegie came up with one solution: He donated the vast majority of his fortune to charities, foundations and universities during the last few years of his life, keeping it from his heirs in an apparent effort to lead them to useful, worthy lives. And his solution has greater wisdom as well: Because research shows that giving to others leads to greater happiness than spending on oneself, Carnegie was also employing his wealth in a manner likely to maximize his own happiness."
http://harris.princeton.edu/faculty/krueger/Toward%20Well-Being.pdf
- Kahneman, D. et al. “Toward National Well-Being Accounts,” American Economic Review (2004) 94:429.
- Frey, Bruno S., and Alois Stutzer. 2012. The Use of Happiness Research for Public Policy. Social Choice and Welfare 38 (4): 659–674.
The issue of happiness is beyond mere accumulation of wealth or material asset. There are other drivers influencing the quality of life and happiness including religion, personal/social goals and values among other drivers. Although financial wealth is important factor in life, it is not considered (as such) a cause or driver of happiness. According the United Nation Development Programme, the maximum of $75,000 per capita is justified based on scholarly inquiries indicating that there is no gain in human development from income per capita exceeding $75,000.
Yes, very interesting article about the range of happiness of 4000 millionaires. But we also read that "research by Nobel laureates Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton suggests that the happiness benefits of increased income diminish around $75,000--in part because increases beyond that point likely don't exert as large an impact on people's ability to live comfortably," they continued. And this fits what the United Nations' maximum of $75,000 per capita.
What is the mediating roles of emotional intelligence (EI) and self-esteem (SE) in the relationship between modesty and subjective well-being (SWB) as well as depression ?
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