MONEY: CAN IT BUY YOU HAPPINESS?

We all need enough to cover our basic needs, but beyond that the link between wealth and wellness is less clear

- DEAN BURNETT

'Money can't buy you happiness' is either a well-known piece of folk wisdom, or a tired cliché. Is it right, though? Scientifically speaking, the answer is... mixed.

A recent study carried out at the University of Bath has once again looked at the relationship between income and happiness. It seems that, up to a point and within a specific set of circumstances, money can buy happiness. But beyond that, the relationship between money and happiness becomes more uncertain.

WHAT MAKES US HAPPY?

At the most fundamental level, the things that make us happy or at least that provoke a positive response in our brains - are those that satisfy our basic biological needs. We humans, as living organisms, need many things to ensure our survival, such as food, water, air, sleep and security. Our brain recognises these things as being 'biologically significant', so if we obtain them, we experience a sense of reward.

Because the human brain can make intuitive and abstract leaps, it can easily recognise that receiving money means we can now more easily obtain food, water, shelter, etc. This, as a study carried out by the Wellcome Trust in 2007 found, can be both rewarding and motivational, two things that could both be considered to fall under the umbrella of happiness.