DOES MONEY BUY HAPPINESS?

               As the British writer J.K Rowling said, “Money frees you”. Indeed, I have chosen this citation since that is what I think when the terms happiness and money are related in the same conversation. Money frees you but does not make you happier. So, even if so many people have wanted, want and will want to buy happiness, doubtlessly, happiness cannot be bought.

However, it is true that having some material basics such as having food or other basic things helps being happier, otherwise unfortunately, in this society you can live quite miserable. So definitely, money helps you living safer and healthier, and thus, it is important to mention that healthy people live happier than people who are not. 

Nevertheless, once we have these basics, as I have said before, money does not assure you more happiness. In fact, as sciencemag.org says “a large body of cross-sectional survey research has demonstrated that income has a reliable, but surprisingly weak, effect on happiness within nations. Indeed, although real incomes have surged dramatically in recent decades, happiness levels have remained largely flat within developed countries across time”.

With money we can buy things but buying things means just being happy for a certain moment, so it is a moment and moreover, sometimes it makes  us feel anxious as we fear to lose what we have or even to be stolen. However, it is true that as Jen Knapp says “money can affect your overall satisfaction in life”.

On the other hand, as the sciencemag.org claims, “Spending money on others promotes happiness”. Indeed, a survey was done and this was its result. “We suggest that using money in this fashion investing income in others rather than oneself—may have measurable benefits for one’s own happiness”.

So, even if money cannot buy happiness, it can help. And these are some useful citations I have found regarding this topic