THE HAPPINESS-TO-CONSUMPTION RATIO: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH IN THE QUEST FOR HAPPINESS

The huge amounts of money spent every year in purchasing material goodsdo not seem very effective in increasing consumers´ happiness. Indeed, higherincome and correspondingly expensive consumption do not make people muchhappier, which implies that current consumerism is extremely inefficientin terms of producing happiness. Extant research and exploratory analysessuggest that people could improve their happiness-to-consumption efficiencythrough activities that let them achieve a sense of mastery and belonging, andby engaging in experiential and social consumption. Based on preliminaryresults hereby discussed, the article proposes research questions to be investigatedby means of a cross-cultural study, anticipates potential contributionsto the field, and suggests future research possibilities.