An Analysis: Can Money Truly Buy Happiness? Coursework Essay

This essay critically examines the complex relationship between money and happiness. It begins by exploring the perspective that money can indeed buy happiness, citing studies that highlight the impact of income on emotional well-being, financial security, and access to experiences. This perspective draws upon Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, arguing that money fulfills basic psychological needs and reduces financial anxiety. The essay then contrasts this view by presenting arguments against the direct correlation between money and happiness, emphasizing the role of personality traits, cultural influences, and the concept of the hedonic treadmill. The essay considers factors such as stress, the limitations of material possessions, and the importance of non-monetary factors like relationships and personal well-being. It concludes by acknowledging money's significance while highlighting the nuanced and multifaceted nature of happiness, suggesting that while money can contribute, it is not the sole determinant of life satisfaction, which is also influenced by a variety of other factors. The essay utilizes research papers, studies, and theories to support its arguments.

CAN MONEY BUY HAPPINESS

Introduction
There are numerous researches been conducted on the influence of the income on the levels
of the happiness. The relationship between the income and happiness is regarded as one of
the most debated topic, with researchers presenting strong arguments for both the sides. The
following report is aimed at evaluating the question, “Can money buy happiness?” The
question would be evaluated in the light of both the perspective with the aid of a
comprehensive literature review. While the perspective is focused on the direct and indirect
means by which the income levels affect the happiness, the second perspective is largely
focussed on the factors other than money that additionally lead to the influence of life
satisfaction and happiness. Thus, a compare and contrast approach would be followed to
study the impact of money on happiness of mankind. This would be followed by an overall
conclusion.
Analysis
Perspective one: Money does buy happiness
With the enhancement of globalization and dependence on technology, there is increased use
of money oriented strategies in the advertising and marketing areas to influence the spending
and thus the state of mind of the people. For instance, elevation of social status leading to
happiness can be well observed in commercials and taglines of popular products. Thus, there
is widespread thought of indulgence in the materialistic lifestyle in the modern society
(Diener and Biswas-Diener, 2011). Some of the popular taglines in this regard are “The
bigger the better,” “The more, the merrier,” and others.
One of the oldest theories supporting the idea of income influence on the happiness is the
psychology theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The diagrammatic presentation of the
theory is presented as follows.

Thus, it has been proposed by the theory that the basic needs of a human being is the
psychological needs in the form of water, food, shelter, sleep and clothing. Thus, when the
money is sufficient to fulfil ones psychological needs, definitely money does leads to
happiness. For instance, a study was conducted in the year 2018 in the area of Zambia which
was poverty struck to evaluate the effect of the money in the form of regular cash transfers
without any obligations attached. The study was conducted for a period of 48 months, and it
was found that the sense of emotional well-being in the women after the said period was
much higher and the same was extended to the whole family including the children (Jewell,
2019). In yet another survey conducted by Gallup poll for the year 2017, when the
individuals earn between $60,000 and $75,000, there is achieved a level of emotional well-
being. Thus, based on the observations above, it would be right to state that money
specifically leads to improvement in emotional well-being for the people affected by poverty.
One of the yet another strong argument in the favour of money leading to happiness is that
the possession of money aids in the elimination of the financial anxiety and financial distress.
It is an important point to be noted that buying more and more things lead to people falling
prey to the debt issues, which leads to the long term happiness. However, money does leads
to happiness and financial security when an individual creates a balanced budget of needs,
savings and spending (Dunn and Norton, 2014). Further, it is essential to note that the
financial markets of present times and the global economies are hugely interconnected. Thus,
the event in one place of the world can largely impact the businesses and thus, saving and
profits of individual in the other place of the world. In such a scenario, the financial security
and efficient set of savings have a crucial role to play. In addition, the financial security aids
in the widening of the portfolio of an individual. The more the options to invest in and save,
the lesser is the likelihood of losing the money in the unstable financial markets like that of
present times.
Further argument in this perspective is that the money aids people to purchase and enjoy the
experiences which to an extent lead to psychological wellness. Money can lend an individual
the opportunity to ensure memorable experiences. Certain experiences that require lot of
money are such as traveling the world, good food, indulgence into hobbies, keep one self,
good looking and fit to match the societal expectations and even philanthropy can only be
done when one has enough money (Xiao, 2014). Money helps an individual to learn new
things and thus shape the personality of oneself. Therefore, spending money on experiences
leads to the moments of happiness in addition to the positive memories to remember on. The

basic medical facilities can only be accessed with the aid of money. The possession of wealth
gives one a larger opportunity to give the same into charity and leave an impact on the
society. Also to state, one of the prime sources of happiness is to be able to aid family
members and friends in the times of need. Yet again, the significance of money comes into
light as the cost of living has considerably increased over the years, and all the medical,
entertainment and education facilities have become costly. Thus, as per the arguments
presented above, it can ne stated that though other factors also contribute in the happiness, the
common amongst all is the money.
Perspective two: Money does not buy happiness
In the opposite perspective, it has been stated that money does not leads to impact on the
psychological well-being of an individual. It has been argued that things that lead to
happiness can be stated to possess a certain intrinsic value. This means, such means are stated
to be valuable, but cannot be regarded as the only measure of happiness as applicable to
everyone. It has been argued that the levels of happiness are largely dependent on the features
of personality. This is because people with different personalities possess different balances
of positive and negative life happenings. This is in addition to the different reactions to the
situations and overall different balance of negative and positive effects on mind and
wellbeing (Soto and Luhmann, 2012). It has been reviewed in various studies that the people
who are generally satisfied with their lives are the ones whose income levels are not only
higher but also the personality is more inclusive of emotional stability, agreeability, and
consciousness in general. It has been also assessed even the same levels of income leads to
different outcomes in context of happiness and satisfaction, because of different personality
traits. Further to state, it is observed that the happiness is life is more strongly influenced by
comparisons of the income than by experiences of the consumption (Easterlin et.al, 2010).
The yet another prominent factor in the determination and achievement of happiness is the
influence of culture. Culture as defined by Hofstede and Bond denotes the collective mind
programming of the individuals which leads to the distinguishing of members of one category
to that of the others. It has been studied that the culture holds the potential to influence the
happiness based on extent, amount and the degree of the same. For instance, in the areas of
Europe and America or the other western civilizations, the culture of individualism is widely
prevalent, where much weightage is given to the individual positive feelings and the
individual freedom. Thus, the individuals are possessing of the greater degree of self-

knowledge and the happiness or the life satisfaction is not much affected by the perspective
of the surrounding people (Ye, Ng and Lian, 2014). In contrast to this, the areas such as
Japan, Korea, and China lay considerable weightage on the family relationships, and rapport
with the colleagues and neighbours. Thus, a greater value is placed on the harmony and
collectivism over the individualism. In this case the personal happiness is largely dependent
on the levels of interaction and orientation across the group, and the same is not necessarily
concentrated to business connections.
One of the major aspects of the income goal and success is that it leads to long hours of work,
may be sometimes job, which often includes a monotonous set of activities that are already
been done by the individuals. Thus, often the by-product of working hard and pushing the
human body and brain beyond a limit is stated to be stress. In context of the scientific studies
on the human body, it has been assessed that when a human is stressed, the body can be
severely affected and lead to health issues, irrespective of the cause of the stress (Xiao, 2015).
Hence, this highlights the importance of fitness in the achievement and maintenance of the
emotional wellbeing. Thus, while an individual may be having a considerable balance in the
bank account on one hand, the same may not be reflected in the body language and the
emotions.
One of the yet another aspect of the Maslow’s need theory is that though money leads to
happiness to an extent, the satisfaction at the top pyramid in the form of the higher spiritual
levels is unprecedented. One of the most renowned theories that favour the influence of the
income on the happiness and psychological wellbeing is the “theory of comparison.” As per
the said theory though money can lead to the possession of various material facilities, yet the
happiness lies in the manner how the same are consumed by the individuals. It has been
stated by the psychologists that once an individual buys a costly new thing, and get used to
the same, the marginal utility of the happiness declines. The concept is referred to as the
hedonic treadmill (Jacob, 2018). Further, the utility and the happiness of the things further
decline because of the comparison of the possessions with friends, family members and
others.
Conclusion
The discussion conducted in the previous parts lead to the following conclusions. As per the
perspective first, it has been concluded that the role of the money is considerable in the

achievement of the happiness in the modern times, because of the fast paced lifestyle and the
materialistic beliefs. This is because the world of today is largely dependent on money for
survival, is technologically advanced and is full of competition. Thus, money is one of the
prime needs to sustain in the materialistic world. The studies have suggested that money has
largely affected the emotions of the people who are poverty stricken. In contrast to this, the
second perspective in the report highlights numerous other factors that influence the
happiness of the humans. The factors that have been identified are that of influence of
culture, physical wellbeing, spiritual inclination, difference in personalities and others.
Hence, it can be finally concluded that though money is a considerable factor influencing
happiness, yet the degree of the influence varies with the extent of the factors identified in the
second perspective. In addition, different factors different relevance from individual to
individual.

References
Diener, E. and Biswas-Diener, R. (2011) Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of
psychological wealth. UK: John Wiley & Sons.
Dunn, E. and Norton, M. (2014) Happy money: The science of happier spending. Simon and
Schuster.
Easterlin, R. A., McVey, L. A., Switek, M., Sawangfa, O., and Zweig, J. S. (2010) The
happiness–income paradox revisited. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
of the United States of America, 107, pp. 22463–22468
Jacob, C. (2018) 21 Reasons Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness [online] Available from:
https://upjourney.com/why-money-cant-buy-happiness [Accessed on: 31 March 2020].
Jewell, T. (2019) Can You Buy Happiness? [online] Available from:
https://www.healthline.com/health/can-money-buy-happiness [Accessed on: 31 March 2020].
Soto, C. J., and Luhmann, M. (2012) Who Can Buy Happiness? Social Psychological and
Personality Science, 4(1), 46–53. doi:10.1177/1948550612444139
Xiao, J. J. (2014) Money and happiness: Implications for investor behavior. Investor
behavior: The psychology of financial planning and investing, pp. 153-169.
Xiao, J. J. (2015) Consumer economic wellbeing. In Consumer economic wellbeing, New
York: Springer, pp. 3-21.
Ye, D., Ng, Y.-K., and Lian, Y. (2014) Culture and Happiness. Social Indicators Research,
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