money and happiness

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Money and Happiness
The question of whether money can buy happiness or whether happiness comes indirectly from a higher rank has brought about several debates. The term happiness can have several meanings for different individuals when its definition is based on the achievement and fulfillment of one’s needs. If people would not be basing happiness on the socioeconomic status, then there would not be several unhappy people in the society. The concept of money and happiness are normally assumed to be linked. People believe that more money leads to more happiness. The absolute income hypothesis shows that richer people are happier than the poor in the same society. In this excerpt, I will compare and contrast the concepts of money and happiness.
Some people argue that money can buy happiness since it can be exchanged for goods and services that in turn increases an individual’s utility. Thus, this idea shows that money and happiness are causally linked and directly related. An individual who is amongst richer people than himself can be adversely affected causing him to lack happiness, this shows that there is a comparison between the concepts of being happy and money. Therefore, one can argue that happiness is not brought about by the absolute amount of money that an individual has but by the amount of money that an individual receives relative to that of their peers. If one becomes happier by getting more money than his peer the fact remains th…