SOME CONSIDERATIONS OVER CONSUMPTION AND HAPPINESS IN THE ROMANIAN SOCIETY
SOME CONSIDERATIONS OVER CONSUMPTION AND HAPPINESS IN THE ROMANIAN SOCIETY

Summary/Abstract: How much money does a man need to be happy? “Just a little bit more” is how John Rockefeller1 famously answered this eternal question. Over time, many studies focused on determining this undefined “a little bit more”, in terms of a little bit more money, thus increasing incomes, or in terms of a little bit more goods and services, thus increasing consumption. Individuals have the tendency to overestimate the utility of extrinsic goods and activities, like income and status, overestimation deepened by the contemporary consumerist philosophy. Around the world, a growing number of economists, social scientists, corporate leaders and bureaucrats are trying to develop measurements that take into account not just the flow of money but also access to health care, free time with family, conservation of natural resources and other noneconomic factors that have a intrinsic utility. The aim of our paper is to reframe this subject for the case of a developing country and to explore if and how consumption influences the happiness of Romanian individuals. The study is based on a survey of recent literature illustrated by descriptive statistics regarding the level of national incomes, consumption credits and the degree of self-perceived happiness and satisfaction with life. The conclusions that can be drawn reside within the larger framework of the hyperconsumption society and its characteristics.

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