By lowering the rate of growth of consumption per capita, perhaps even to zero, the amount of 'environmental degradation' generated by each consumer will be less than it would be if consumption grew at current or historical rates. That is because it is not only what we consume, but how much we consume that matters for the ecology. That is, we need to move rightward on the growth-environment frontier. A recent poll suggests considerable awareness of these issues among the American people. But altering the trajectory of private consumption is not an easy task.
Economic growth plays a central political, economic and psycho-cultural role in western society.
The postwar regime was premissed on steady increases in income and consumption, in that the Keynesian alliance between business, labour and government was essentially an agreement to avoid conflict over shares by ensuring higher absolute levels for all. Similarly, redistribution among income classes was small in comparison to the impact of growth on the standard of living of lower income groups. Prosperity became key to the virtual elimination of political challenges to the system. Increasing consumption also solved the 'economic problem', that is, fear of stagnation. Productivity increases were channelled into growth in real wages and hence private consumption.