´wealthö to put it more properly, as wealth can include more than just money). However, this is not the same as saying that there is no relationship between happiness and money. In fact, Aristotle himself says that ôriches is a useful thingö (Ethics, Bk IV, Chapt. 1, 1120a), provided that they are used properly. It is thus the contention of this paper that, in a free market capitalist society like ours, wealth when properly employed is a necessary component of happiness.
The conventional wisdom when it comes to money and happiness has always been that money can't buy happiness. But is that strictly true? Is the relationship between wealth and happiness that obvious and that simple? There is some modern-day research being conducted that seems to indicate that this simple relationship might not be entirely true. As well, there is the practical notion that we carry around with us that says we need some money in order to pursue happinessùor we will fail miserably to even come close to any measurable level of happiness.
One study conducted by University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener indicates that there is a declining effect of income on happiness once people start to have more money than they need (ôStudy Confirms à ö, 1993, p. 7). According to Diener: ôA lot of people think, 'If only I had a million dollars, I'd be happy.' It could be true for an individual, but for most people, on average, it appears not to be trueö (p. 7). In one of the longest-standing surveys, conducted with several hundred thousand people over a 20-year period, Myers & Diener (1996) found that:
Happiness cuts across age, class, race and education;
Wealth does not necessarily reflect the level of happiness and people do not become happier just because their society becomes more affluent: ôOnly in the poorest countries, such as Bangladesh and India, is income a good measure of emotional well-beingö (p. 71).
This is in keeping with other ...