“The greatest challenge of the twenty-first century is to raise people everywhere to a decent standard of living while preserving as much of the rest of life as possible.” – Edward O. Wilson

The term “consumption” simply represents purchases of goods and services (including energy) by consumers. It has a strong material dimension that lies along a gradient between “needs” and “wants”. In the words of German-born British economist E.F. Schumacher: “Modern economics considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity, taking the factors of production ~ land, labour, and capital ~ as the means. Buddhist economics tries to maximize human satisfactions by the optimal pattern of consumption, while modern economics tries to maximise consumption by the optimal pattern of productive effort.” In his book, “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, Thorstein Veblen, an American economist and sociologist, in 1899 first coined a term “Conspicuous Consumption” to refer to the practice of acquiring and displaying luxury goods and services to publicly demonstrate one’s wealth, status, and power.

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Veblen claimed the goods consumed by such consumers were wasteful and did not hold any practical useful value for the consumers except to enhance their reputation and social prestige as well as to provoke the envy of other people. Veblen also called conspicuous consumption of the goods as a conspicuous waste. However, following the original insights of Veblen, some heterodox economists such as James Duesenberry and Robert H. Frank, have argued that awareness of conspicuous consumption habits of others tends to inspire emulation of these practices. James Duesenberry (1949) gave the name “bandwagon effect” or “demonstration effect” to the phenomenon.

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There remains a core driver of consumption, popularly known as luxury consumption that extends beyond the public display, to encompass goods and services that elevate material comfort, satisfy notions of “desirable experiences” and/or symbolise exclusivity, cultural status and refined quality, even when not explicitly visible. In fine, conspicuous consumption is driven by the desire to flaunt wealth and status, while luxury consumption focuses on intrinsic value and quality of the products, even though they can also be expensive.

The concept of “hedonic treadmill” (also known as the “hedonic adaptation”) explains the psychological aspect of both conspicuous and luxury consumptions. The initial joy of acquiring luxury goods diminishes quickly, pushing consumers to seek newer or more extravagant possessions to sustain their sense of gratification. The cycle not only fosters perpetual dissatisfaction but also exacerbates feelings of inadequacy and emptiness. The Industrial Revolution........

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