Book Review Editorial: Money and Happiness

Freud believed that happiness results from the fulfillment of childhood wishes and that money is not their object. Hence money cannot provide happiness. This is psychoanalytically derived wisdom. However, a careful look makes one reconsider the issue. How does one define happiness? Are joy excitement, euphoria, a sense of well-being and contentment forms of happiness? How sustained do these affects have to be in order to qualify as “happiness”? And at what age do children become aware of the significance of money? Children in Freud's Vienna might not have traversed the monetary path to desired objects, but my secretary swears that Erin, her 23-month-old daughter, squeals “money!” each time she sees her mother's ATM card. The world has changed and we might need to rethink the notion that bank balance and emotional state are unrelated.

To begin with, the way we define “happiness” would affect our verdict in this regard. For, if we define it as relief from external hardships and the transient bliss associated with hedonism, money does seem to be a potent trigger for happiness. However, if we restrict the use of the word “happiness” to sustained contentment, then money clearly does not create this state of affairs. And, frankly, nothing else does. Life is an ongoing struggle with conflicts, and periods of relief and joy are sprinkled here and there, if one is lucky. Happiness as a sustained intrapsychic situation does not really exist.

Problems arise when an individual or a society promises that happiness of this sort is achievable (à la the “pursuit of happiness” in our constitution). Capitalistic societies especially uphold this illusionary goal. Their industrialists produce all sorts of goods and, through mesmerizing advertisements, convince the consumers that such goods are indeed “needed” by them. This producer-induced false need propels people to work extra hours, make more money and purchase more and more “things” in order to be happy. However, the temporary relief