Material aspirations, cultural change, and the transition towards sustained growth

This study highlights the role of economic materialism, i.e., the set of values and
personality traits that prioritise the pursuit of material goals, as a cultural
phenomenon of significance in relation to economic transformation and
development. It presents a model in which, by inducing material aspirations, an
endogenous cultural change towards more widespread adherence to materialistic
values is both a cause and an effect of productivity growth. This cultural-economic
complementarity is a powerful mechanism of endogenous productivity growth; it
also determines the prevalence of different cultural values vis-à-vis the prominence
of material objectives. From a historical perspective, the model draws attention to a
novel mechanism through which the Protestant Reformation may have contributed
to the take-off towards sustained economic growth. It also investigates the role of
consumption-focused reforms, such as sumptuary laws, in determining the timing
of this take-off.