Happiness vs Wealth

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Consequently, it is important to find out causes of such a gap and lack of interdependence between rising wealth and happiness of people because all people want to be happy and, erroneously, they associate happiness with wealth. As a result, the dominant strife for prosperity as a source of happiness is apparently misleading and people should be conscious of this fact and the understanding of its causes will help many people understand what makes them really happy.

The lack of interdependence between wealth and happiness
In actuality, the idea of interdependence of rising wealth and rising happiness and content of people is a highly controversial issue. In fact, views on this issue vary dramatically and may be quite antagonistic. On the one hand, there is a widely spread belief that the rising wealth and higher level of income can make people happier and more content with their life. On the other hand, there is the opposite view which indicates to the lack of the interdependence between wealth and happiness. According to this view, the rising wealth does not make people any happier and, what is more, the growing incomes of people can even evoke certain anxiety and result in the growing dissatisfaction of people.

In order to find out the true effect of the rising wealth on the psychological state of people, their happiness and content, several researches were conducted. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the research of Richard Easterlin (1995), who attempted to reveal the impact of wealth and rising incomes on happiness of people. His research revealed the fact that the effect of the rising wealth and incomes can produce a different impact on happiness and content of people with their life.

To put it more precisely, the research of the impact of the rising wealth on happiness of people in Europe (Graph 1) revealed the fact that basically happiness
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