Affluence and unsustainable consumption levels: The role of consumer credit

Abstract

Several pressures on planetary boundaries are directly linked to the production of goods and services driven by people’s ever-increasing spending of money to improve their material living standard beyond a comfortable life. The over-spending on material consumption by people in industrialized countries, and in the growing middle and upper classes of developing countries, constitutes a serious threat to the planet, does not boost individual happiness, and exposes citizens in a society to inequalities known to negatively affect their well-being. Owing to economic means and psychological factors spurring consumption, affluence increases spending on consumption of expensive luxury goods and services that aggregated have detrimental effects on the planet. We conjecture that these effects are increased by consumer credit enabling moderately affluent people to match their peers’ and the very affluent people’s spending on expensive luxury consumption, and making less affluent people over-spend money on purchases of inexpensive short-lived fast-fashion consumer products. In addition to other means to curtail current unsustainable consumption levels, our analysis highlights that consumer credit may need to be restricted. • Levels of private material consumption threaten to exceed planetary boundaries. • Affluence, consumption desires, supply and marketing of products are known causes. • Easily accessible consumer credit is an unacknowledged additional cause.