Conventional economists analyze human behavior by assuming a “rational economic agent†who is motivated solely by material self interest. This assumption has come to permeate our analyses of economic situations and policies, yet it is clearly limited, simplifying, and not capable of...

Consumerism is on the list of critical targets of ecological economists, but an economic theory of consumerism has still to be developed. The present paper intends to contribute to such a theory based on an institutionalist view of consumption as a social process and focussing on the...