The Consumption Spiral

Economic Development, Ancestral Intelligence and the Path to Regenerative Growth
Erscheinungsjahr 2027
ISBN: 978-3-032-42991-9
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 177 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Over the past 75 years, unprecedented economic growth has been accompanied by a Great Acceleration in consumption and environmental pressure. The dominant framework for economic development discourse in this period, Rostow's Stages of Growth model, positioned High Mass-Consumption as the endpoint of development, largely externalizing ecological costs and treating material escalation as progress. For many countries, it rendered traditional economies as simply the first stage towards modernization, rather than valuing traditional and Indigenous Knowledge as forms of Ancestral Intelligence that can serve as a foundation for sustainable development.

Written for policymakers, scholars and students of development economics, and practitioners working at the intersection of environment, economics, and sustainable consumption and production, the book advances three arguments. First, household consumption has become an increasingly important driver of GDP growth across high- and middle-income economies, while also representing a growing share of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet household consumption remains poorly integrated into development theory. Second, the displacement of traditional and Indigenous consumption practices through modernization has marginalized forms of knowledge that this book conceptualizes as Ancestral Intelligence. Third, regenerative growth requires structural reform through policies that embed true environmental costs into economic decision-making, while integrating Indigenous and traditional knowledge into development policy.

To bring these arguments together, the book proposes the Consumption Spiral, a three-dimensional framework grounded in thermodynamic principles that goes beyond linear development models and two-dimensional circular-economy frameworks. The framework connects consumption intensity, environmental impact, and time across four phases of development. Cases spanning housing and earthen construction, transport and food systems illustrate how retrospective innovation, the recovery and application of Ancestral Intelligence, can redirect development from ecological overshoot towards regenerative growth.

Sara Castro de Hallgren is a development economist with 17 years in the United Nations system, specializing in policy advice, strategic planning and technical cooperation that align economic development with environmental sustainability.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Castro de Hallgren, Sara

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Nachhaltigkeit
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Mikroökonomie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 A Drive Towards High Mass-consumption - Taking Off to Modernity and Leaving Ancestral Intelligence Behind.- 2 Evolution and Consumption, Resource Demand and Conflict with Nature – Is Humanity More Intelligent Today?.- 3 The History of Sustainable Consumption in Global Agendas.- 4 Conceptualizing Development and Consumption through Contemporary Social Science - Bridging Theories for the Spiral Framework to Guide Development.- 5 Stuck on the Staircase – Limits to Measuring a Shift from Consumption-led Growth to Sustainable Consumption.- 6 Conceptualizing Modern Economies and Consumption - Growth Spiral and Ecological Limits.- 7 Outlook for Truly Implementing Sustainable Consumption in a Growth-Obsessed Global Economy.

Über Autor(innen)

Sara Castro Hallgren is a development economist with close to two decades of professional experience within the United Nations system conducting policy research, capacity development, and advising countries on development policy and planning. Her professional work has spanned sustainable consumption and production, development economics, and multilateral policy processes, including engagement with intergovernmental frameworks on sustainable development. She holds degrees from George Washington University, the Institute of Social Studies, and Harvard University. Her research publications and scholarly interests bridge ecological economics, sustainable consumption and development theory.