http://thecleanlife.hubpages.com/hub/How-Living-A-Simple-Life-Can-Be-A-Happy-Life
These articles elude to the American vision of abundance and how we almost strive for abundance, yet when you have less lavish material goods with the same fundamental properties (like a house with the same view as a mansion off of a cliff in the aforementioned article) people tend to have the same or even more happiness.