Peniaze ako zdroj šťastia v našich životoch? (Is Money a Source of Happiness in our lives?)

• Main Author: Otakar Horák
• Format: Article
• Language: ces
• Published: Ostium 2013-06-01
• Series: Ostium
• Subjects: Happiness; Ethics; Behavioral economics; Hedonic treadmill; Cognitive biases; Prosocial spending; Kahneman
• Online Access: http://www.ostium.sk/index.php?mod=magazine&act=show&aid=478

This paper begins by referring to the research which distinguishes two different aspects of subjective well-being, namely 1. experiences of happiness – measured by frequency and intensity of joy, stress, anger, worry and sadness we experience at a certain moment and 2. life satisfaction. Survey shows that beyond an annual household income of $75 000 there is no increase in the experiences of happiness. The paper then refers to the psychological mechanisms and factors – namely hedonic adaptation, social comparison and stress as a result of a raise – that lower the capacity of money to buy us the experiences of happiness. Not only we get quickly used to the things we buy, money also puts us into stressful situations and makes us build barriers between people. The paper then specifies strategies of economic decision-making that contribute to the maximization of happiness, such as purchase of the experiences instead of the things, interrupted and postponed consumption, or prosocial spending. The research indicates that prosocial spending has higher causal impact on promoting happiness than personal spending. As a matter of fact, this phenomenon is not culturally limited to the West. Concluding assertion – expressed only in the form of hypothesis – says that prosocial spending which is a form of prosocial behavior strengthens – through production of happiness – mutual relations in the society (cooperation).