As mentioned above, I'm really not sure why the title is "In the Pursuit of Happyness," but I have this feeling that it's partly connected with economic success and being happy. I enjoyed that movie from the fatherhood perspective, but a recent Yahoo! Finance article entitled "10 Things Millionaires Won't Tell You" made me revisit its economic angle. One of the "10 Things" is this: "Turns out money can buy happiness," citing a study, conducted by economists at the Wharton School of Business, stating that higher income correlates with higher ratings in life satisfaction.

It would seem that the pursuit of money brings happiness. Of course, there are divergent views -- and divergent research results -- on this matter. On one hand, we have the Easterlin paradox (named after Richard Easterlin). The paradox is basically that happiness does not appear to increase with income, once basic needs are fulfilled.

Incidentally, there's a "study" which says that Filipinos are the 2nd happiest people in Asia. The ranking (India, Philippines, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore) certainly doesn't follow the economic level of these countries. Another study reveals that the Philippines is the 38th happiest country in the world, while the richest country -- the United States of America -- only ranks 16th.

At the other end of the spectrum are studies by economists at Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania). One article ("If you're richer, you're happier") summarizes it in this manner: "In other words they show that it's not just relative wealth that matters, it is absolute wealth too - on average, the richer you are, the happier you are. And this isn't true just for the first slug of income, just until we can subsist, it is true all the way up and as economies keep growing."

So, which is which? Does money bring you happiness? If the answer is "no," does it automatically mean that more money makes you more unhappy? Does it matter to Pinoy Entrepreneurs who naturally are seeking means to earn more money?