In contrast with the production of goods and services by firms, where the production costs are minimized under appropriate behavioral assumptions, consumer- producers have as objective the maximization of consumption expenditure, i.e., production costs of their outputs. According to Kenneth Boulding, were the impact upon the limited resources available on planet Earth taken into account, consumption expenditure should be something to be minimized. Thus, either we abandon consumer theory, as we know it, or we keep it as a reasonable description of reality. Then we should evaluate the long run consequences of such behavior in a larger context, which, as the consequence of larger population with increasing per capita consumption, comprises the overburdening of natural resources. When we decompose the time horizon of cultural evolution into shorter periods of adjustment, we may distinguish several types of institutional determination of how societies take decisions, as a group and individually. The postulate of maximizing consumption is reasonable for an aggregate approach. It simply reflects the predominant ethical values, of which ideologies, political platforms, and demand patterns are shorter run adjustments.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Length: Date of creation: 2005 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:anp:en2005:136
Contact details of provider: Postal: Secretaria da ANPEC Rua Tiradentes, 17 - Ingá Niterói, RJ 24210-510 Brazil Phone: 55 21 2621 1802 Fax: 55-11-3091-6073 Email: Web page: http://www.anpec.org.br More information through EDIRC
Order Information: Postal: Secretaria da ANPEC Rua Tiradentes, 17 - Ingá Niterói, RJ 24210-510 Brazil
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Hugo E. A. da Gama Cerqueira) The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Hugo E. A. da Gama Cerqueira to update the entry or send us the correct address..
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: