ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces consumption corridors as a workable mechanism for pursuing the vision of a good life for all. The chapter first describes the idea of consumption corridors, in part by showing how relevant elements of the concept already operate across societies, especially with respect to upper and lower limits on consumption. The authors then explore the kinds of societal processes and framework conditions necessary to the design of feasible and effective consumption corridors. Inclusive participatory processes emerge as a critical component of this process; elite management and behavioral “nudges” are inadequate to the need for citizen engagement around the articulation of accepted limits and essential needs. The chapter concludes by exploring the nature of social change and its implications for a societal process toward consumption corridors.