Insatiability: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Economic satiation is the idea that once people have attained an adequate level of income and consumption they reach a satiation point at which income and consumer goods become less effective as reinforcers and as sources of satisfaction. Advocates of a sustainable society have seen economic satiation as a natural method for reducing the overconsumption of goods and thereby producing environmental benefits including a reduction in carbon emissions and lessened demand for nonrenewable resources. Yet cross-cultural data from both developing and developed economies have been unable to fix a satiation point at which the reinforcing effectiveness of income declines. This finding of income insatiability is consistent with the status of money as a powerful generalized reinforcer that is not subject to satiation. A conceptual solution to the problem is to accept and even embrace the insatiability of generalized reinforcers, yet to develop a culture of education and skills that empowers alternative generalized reinforcers to the point at which their effectiveness rivals or exceeds that of income.