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The Limits of Growth-Led Dematerialization
A central empirical contribution of the project concerns the long-debated relationship between economic growth and material use. Using long-term panel data on Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) and Material Footprint (MF), the research finds no robust evidence supporting the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for material use. Higher income levels do not systematically lead to reductions in resource consumption. Instead, material–income elasticities remain positive and, in certain historical periods, have even increased.
These findings challenge the widespread assumption that economic growth will eventually “decouple” from environmental pressures through technological innovation alone. Although relative efficiency improvements occur, they are frequently offset by scale effects: expanding production and consumption outpace gains in resource efficiency.
Beyond this empirical evidence, the project contributes a theoretical framework explaining the growth–well-being paradox. An endogenous growth model developed within the project shows how economic expansion, declining social capital, and rising well-being inequality can emerge as mutually reinforcing dynamics. In this perspective, a substantial share of modern economic growth can be described as “defensive”: households increase expenditure to shield themselves from growth-induced negative externalities, including environmental degradation, social fragmentation, and institutional erosion.
While defensive spending sustains output growth, it does not necessarily enhance aggregate well-being. Beyond a certain threshold of material output, private consumption fails to compensate for deteriorating social conditions. Moreover, the erosion of social capital disproportionately affects lower-income households, which have fewer resources to engage in defensive expenditure. Growth can therefore coincide with declining average well-being and rising well-being inequality.
The implication is clear: dematerialization is not a spontaneous outcome of market dynamics and growth. It requires deliberate and coordinated policy interventions aimed at restructuring production systems, consumption patterns, and incentive frameworks.
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Extending Product Lifetimes: Beyond Technical Fixes
One of the most consistent themes across the deliverables is the strategic importance of extending product lifetimes. Greater durability and repairability reduce material throughput by slowing replacement cycles and limiting extraction, manufacturing, and waste generation. However, the research demonstrates that premature obsolescence is not merely a technical issue; it is also cultural, institutional, and economic in nature.
Regulatory measures such as eco-design standards address physical durability and repair barriers, yet they do not fully confront symbolic obsolescence – the social and cultural dynamics that encourage consumers to replace functional products due to fashion cycles, status considerations, or perceived technological inferiority. At the same time, many prevailing business models depend on rapid product turnover and planned upgrades.
Effective lifetime extension policies must therefore combine regulatory instruments with cultural change, credible information systems, and economic restructuring. This broader systemic perspective recognises that technical durability alone cannot transform a “throwaway economy.” Social norms, market incentives, and institutional trust are equally decisive.
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Information, Trust, and Consumer Agency
Experimental research within the project demonstrates that consumer choices can shift toward more durable products when credible durability information is provided. Labelling interventions, for example, increase the likelihood of selecting longer-lasting goods – but only when consumers perceive the information as trustworthy.
Two key insights emerge. First, consumers are not inherently resistant to durability; rather, they often lack reliable and transparent information. Second, information policies are effective only within trusted governance frameworks. Instruments such as Digital Product Passports have the potential to empower consumers and reshape market demand, provided they are embedded within transparent, standardised, and enforceable institutional arrangements.
Information, therefore, is necessary but not sufficient. Its effectiveness depends on credibility, standardisation, and regulatory oversight.
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Circular Transitions as Configurational Processes
The WIDE research emphasises that transitions toward circularity do not follow a single linear trajectory. Through configurational and sector-specific analyses, the project demonstrates that successful circular outcomes arise from particular combinations of factors rather than isolated interventions.
The case of solid cosmetics, for instance, shows that environmentally superior products may struggle to diffuse due to firm-level constraints, distribution structures, and established consumer habits. Barriers are dispersed across value chains and embedded within existing infrastructures. Similarly, broader analyses of circular practices indicate that material efficiency, social norms, everyday routines, and supportive policy environments must align to generate durable transformation.
This configurational perspective rejects “silver bullet” solutions. Circularity emerges as a systemic property of economic organisation rather than a characteristic of individual products. Effective transition therefore requires coordinated multi-level governance involving producers, consumers, regulators, and civil society.
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Rebalancing Work, Time, and Social Participation
The WIDE project explores how working-time arrangements shape well-being and social engagement. Empirical evidence suggests that longer paid working hours reduce participation in volunteering and civic activities, while certain reduced-hour or part-time arrangements can enhance social engagement. Further evidence from a field experiment highlights the virtuous loop that can occur between volunteering activities and subjective well-being.
These findings broaden the sustainability debate by connecting dematerialization to time allocation and social capital. Economies organised around lower material throughput may also require a reconfiguration of work structures. If productivity gains are redirected toward reducing working hours rather than expanding output, improvements in well-being may be achieved without increasing resource use.
This perspective challenges growth-centric narratives equating prosperity with higher consumption levels. Instead, it highlights the potential for enhanced well-being through improved time balance, strengthened community ties, and meaningful social participation.
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Youth Well-Being and the Structural Transformation of Daily Life
Evidence from high-income countries indicates a sustained decline in subjective well-being and mental health among children and adolescents — a trend that predates the COVID-19 pandemic. While much research has focused on family or psychological determinants, structural transformations in children’s daily environments have received less attention. Since the 1980s, youth time use has undergone profound change. Unstructured outdoor play and autonomous peer interaction have progressively given way to screen-based, home-centered, and adult-supervised activities. Commercialisation, intensified educational performance pressure, digital environments, and urban design limiting independent mobility have reshaped childhood. These structural dynamics reduce autonomy, alter socialisation patterns, and may weaken the development of social capital from an early age. From a dematerialization perspective, the colonisation of youth time by commercial and digital consumption embeds material-intensive lifestyles and consumer identities early in life. Sustainability policies must therefore extend beyond production systems. Urban planning, education reform, advertising regulation, and digital governance play critical roles in restoring autonomy, peer interaction, and non-commercial spaces for youth development. Intergenerational well-being requires protecting children’s time and social environments from excessive commodification.
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A Broader Conception of Well-Being and Prosperity
The WIDE research highlights that intrinsic motivations play a key role in fostering pro-environmental behaviors and well-being. Empirical evidence indicates that intrinsic motiv\ations for engaging in organic farming are positively associated with farmers’ well-being, whereas extrinsic motivations tend to have a negative effect. Findings from a field experiment on litter clean-up further suggest that monetary incentives have limited effectiveness in promoting pro-environmental behavior, as they can crowd out the participation of individuals who are already environmentally motivated.
Taken together, the project’s findings suggest that well-being must be conceptually decoupled from GDP growth. Sustainable prosperity depends on multiple and interrelated dimensions: material sufficiency, durable goods, environmental integrity, institutional trust, meaningful work, and community engagement.
The research thus supports a multidimensional framework for assessing societal progress. Policies should focus not solely on quantitative output expansion, but also on qualitative improvements in production systems and social organisation. Extending product lifespans, reducing material intensity, strengthening institutional capacity, and enabling flexible work arrangements are interconnected strategies contributing to both environmental sustainability and human flourishing.