This paper proposes the establishment of a “plenty line” as a counterpart to the poverty line, as a means of focusing public and political attention on the issue of over-consumption. In other words, is there a level of income such that people with incomes above this level have minimally greater well-being than those with incomes at this level? While the analysis is complicated by the nature of the data available (viz. its reliance on self-reporting of income, and more specifically self-attribution to a limited range of income bands) and the relatively small sample sizes in most relevant surveys, the authors find indicative evidence for the existence of “plenty lines” ranging between household incomes of $35,000 and $107,000 in six Western European countries (and at $20,000 in one Eastern European country), where well-being is defined in terms of life satisfaction. While the reliability of these findings for individual countries is limited by the sample sizes, the fact that in only one of 22 countries (Switzerland) do the data appear clearly inconsistent with the existence of an (overall income) plenty line at some level of income would appear to suggest that such a line exists in at least some European countries. So, while the exact location of plenty line cannot be predicted with great precision, it seems clear that there is one. This is consistent with research in the United States which showed that there was no increase in well-being (defined in terms of affect) once household incomes reached $75,000 (Kahneman & Deaton; 2010). This suggests a case for policies designed to limit the growth of incomes beyond societal plenty lines – primarily higher incomes in developed countries (but also those of elites, particularly in highly unequal middle-income developing countries). However, the implications of the plenty line concept potentially reach much further. By highlighting – and potentially allowing us to quantify – the divergence between total income and societal wellbeing, the plenty line has the potential to provide a basis for a whole new economics, directed towards the achievement of our ultimate goals as society and not merely the maximisation of total production.
This report attempts to shed light on whether nations can prosper without actually achieving sustainable growth. It also questions whether the benefits of continued economic growth still outweigh the costs, and scrutinises the assumption that growth is essential for prosperity.
This publication serves as a background document highlighting initiatives which have been successfully implemented to facilitate a transformation to a green development on different levels: the level of single companies, the household level and the macro-economic level (countries).
The Life Beyond Growth publication by AtKisson for the Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economy and Society, explores, as a basis, alternatives and complements to GDP-measured growth as a framing concept for social progress.