A Critique Of 'Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness'

In the article “Money: The Real Truth about Money” by Gregg Easterbrook published In Time Magazine (2005), the author compares two different generation’s attitudes towards money, and how it affects their happiness. The author’s standing qualifies him to write and appeal this issue, he’s a contributing editor of The Atlantic and The Washington Monthly, and he also writes the Tuesday Morning Quarterback column for ESPN.com. Easterbrook’s primary audience appears to be middle class Americans however he draws a wider secondary audience’s attention. The author succeeded in convincing his readers through his rhetorical appeals, credible sources and his clever use of language.

He said people are happier if they live in wealthy than poor nations. However, when people have enough money to pay for their basic need of food, shelter, etc., money does relatively little to improve happiness. He said people today are twice as rich as people in the late 1960s, but they were less happy than people in the 1960s. In the article “Spending Become You” the author Juliet Schor argues that Americans are looking for happiness, so that lead them to continuously buy so much and overspend without even realizing that they are spending more than they make. David G Myers, in the article “ The Funds, and Faith of Happy people” he argues that it is impossible what these people are doing, because money can’t buy happiness. This shows that, the American habit of overspending is unnecessary. Myers’ article enables us to understand why Schor said, all that Americans do is spend, spend and spend as if they can’t have fun without spending

Don Peck and Ross Douthat convey through their editorial, “Does Money Buy Happiness?,” that one’s level of content to a degree is contingent upon their ability to act as a consumer in society. Peck and Douthat base their assumption on research which shows, “For individual countries, with few exceptions, self-reported happiness has increased as incomes have risen” (332, par.4) Based on this statistic, it is being assumed that one’s ability to support their lifestyle and perhaps better it creates a sense of security that leads to happiness.

In the article, “Does Trying To Be Happy Make Us Unhappy?” Adam Grant argues that putting too much effort into life changes will actually me people unhappy. Grant point out two countries and how they give the right to be happy to their citizens. The U.S.A grants life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and in the kingdom of Bhutan they have a national index to measure their happiness. Grant then goes on presenting a psychologist study done about happiness, this study reveals that the more pressure people puts on trying to be happy the less happy they are.

Growing up in a family where both my parents came from poor immigrant backgrounds always made financial success a priority and when there was no need to be frugal, my parents did seem happier. But did money buy my parents’ happiness or did money lead to their happiness? Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener attempt to answer that question in their excerpt “Can Money Buy Happiness,” where they claim that “[m]oney can be a help in attaining psychological wealth, but it should be considered in the bigger picture of what makes people general genuinely rich (Biswas-Diener 161). Although not explicitly defined by Diener and Biswas-Diener, “psychological wealth” is the overall measure of happiness, beyond just fiscal affluence, including positive ties with other individuals and joyful temperaments (Biswas-Diener 168). By extending Biswas-Diener and Diener’s idea of “psychological wealth” to include the perception of what wealth is and what wealth consists of beyond monetary success, such as achievements or fulfillment, there exist a copious number of ways to view wealth. One can be rich in more than finances and happiness is dependent upon the perception of wealth due to money being one of several paths, including deliberate effort and being positive, to “psychological wealth” which leads to happiness.

As I read the article about happiness I noticed a lot of logos along the way, she used a lot of facts to back up her argument about why happiness is healthy and the benefits it has. She uses the example of the identical and fraternal twins, "Research has shown that identical twins tend to have similar level of happiness more so than fraternal twins." (Landau 12). According to the author this means that happiness truly comes from your genes. Also, the fact that identical twins can almost sense each other's level of happiness. Her research was related to happiness but it didn't help me understand the main concept of why happiness is healthy. Then she introduces a stronger point with a cliche that states, "money doesn't buy happiness". Using this as her naysayer, this actually helps her in proving why money can't really buy you happiness. She claims, "emotional well-being rises with income up to a point, which seems to be a household income of $75,000. Day-to-day happiness did not increase with higher incomes....Their results show a sharp destitution between how people see

Money and Happiness Why most of rich people are not happy with what they have? Happiness is the feeling which people feel it when they are satisfied with what they have even though these people are poor or rich. Money is the way that people use it to bring things which they can buy it by money. Sharon Begley in her article “Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness” states that sometimes there are relationship between money and happiness because people always try to spend less money when they want to buy somethings.

In his article The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People David G. Myers analyzes results of different surveys and researches in attempt to answer the question: “does money make people happier?” The conclusion suggests they do not. While many people have an opposite opinion, facts show the correlation between money and happiness weakens with the increase of income.

Leonhardt begins his article by providing readers with a historical background on the Japanese economy. He then uses this background to display a contrast between wealth and satisfaction; this contrast lead to the Easterlin Paradox. Consequently, this research became communal in social science as it challenges the previous association with money to happiness. Afterwards, Leonhardt proposes his argument as he introduces a new research. In this research, two economists argue against the Easterlin Paradox. They believe that money does aid in bringing happiness even if not guaranteed. In addition, both researchers and Leonhardt discuss that absolute income is more important than relative income. This research was conducted at a national

The subject of this paper is the age-old question, “Does Money Buy Happiness”. On the surface, this question appears to be an easy one. Happiness however, is a subjective item. To better answer this, several points must be analyzed such as, “What is happiness?”, “How is it measured?” etc. To better streamline this process, a research question was developed:

How often do you wake up worrying about money? How often do your loved ones worry about money? How often have you heard, “if only I had the money?” How often do you feel that more money would solve all your problems and would make you happy? What if I told you that you were right, to an extent. Author’s across the discussion of happiness have tried to answer the simply stated, yet complicatedly answered question, “Can Money Buy Happiness?” Authors Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diner attempt to answer the question in their piece of the same name, by explaining that “Yes, money buys happiness…but it must be considered in the bigger picture of what makes people genuinely rich” (Biswas-Diener 160-161). This idea that fiscal wealth is a path to happiness

A recent study shows that as an individuals’ level of wealth increases, their feelings of compassion go down, and their feelings of allowance, deservingness, and their idea of self-interest increases. According to some scientists, money can buy happiness, but what is happiness exactly? Money can make you feel everything is possible. Sad thing is, money will always leave you wanting more and more. In consequence, we will see how in the early 1920’s in The Great Gatsby and now humanity has focused on satisfying their ego and how that can somehow be quite destructive.

It is often said that, “Money can’t buy happiness.” In Cass R. Sunstein’s Yes, Money Can Make You Happy, Sunstein provides a summary and review of Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton’s Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending; he declares that money, when spent wisely and with the right attitude, can provide the most elusive of all human experiences: happiness. In a changing social climate with advances in technology offering unmatched convenience, and a culture in which diverse people with equally diverse sets of values come together, the study of what truly makes us happy is especially relevant now more than ever. While money can certainly be spent in a manner which will create happiness, what Sunstein neglects to address in his writing is that more money does not always equate to more happiness, regardless of how and when it is spent.

In today’s materialistic world, the phrase that ‘money can’t buy happiness’ is tending to be proved hence otherwise. Social research and surveys have shown results based on an individuals income, health and the political scenario which is dominant in his or her region. It is quite obvious that the gap between the privileged and the not so is growing into a great divide giving rise to different class and status, thus defining ones social circle. It should therefore be understood how an individuals economic status affects their personal happiness throughout all aspects of life. Many tend to refer to this age-old quote especially when they tend to belong to sector of people who can’t afford the modern day luxuries of life. What they do not

Everyone wants to live a happy life. Even those people that hate everything about everyone. The trick is how to get that wanted happiness. Is money a way to achieve this happiness? People, philosophers, professors, and ordinary, everyday people have been pondering this age-old question about the relationship between money and happiness and if money can buy happiness for a very long time. Much research and many surveys have been asked and performed by excited researchers and agog economists. A lot of experiments and presentations galore were rendered by inquisitive University professors and intrigued university undergraduates to provide useful data. As it turns out, money can and will buy happiness for everyone that spends it at the right time and on the right things.