Sustainable Consumption in Terms of Subjective Well-being in Asia

摘要

This study presents an overview of our research on the association between consumption and subjective well-being (SWB) to suggest implications for sustaining SWB within the context of environmentally sustainable consumption. Future environmental burdens, such as reaching planetary boundaries, require us to suppress overconsumption. For developed countries, where the population consumes disproportionately more resources, considering how to sustain SWB even if people reduce their consumption levels is necessary. For developing countries, where people are increasing consumption as their economies develop, considering how to realize high SWB while considering future environmental restraints is imperative. Therefore, for both developed and developing countries, improving SWB-per-unit consumption is important. We conducted five surveys in rural and urban Vietnam and Japan from 2016 to 2021. Our estimation results suggest the following: (1) Paying attention to relational consumption rather than material consumption is important; (2) for material consumption, a sharing economy based on strong social capital is efficient; and (3) for material consumption, individuals who take better care of their possessions exhibit increased SWB-per-unit material consumption. We conclude that having individuals develop an attachment to material goods and value social capital is requisite for improving SWB through material and relational consumption.