Prepared with the contributions of Türkiye's leading academics and experts, the "From Consumption Economy to Contentment Economy" report offers solution proposals to the economic and environmental crises created by excessive consumption and inefficient use of resources. Placing the effective use of resources and saving at its centre, the report draws a comprehensive road map for the construction of a sustainable economic model.
Economics is accepted as a branch of science that examines the decisions economic actors/units make in order to meet their unlimited wants and needs with limited resources. Although the assumption taught in “Introduction to Economics” courses that ‘resources are limited’ may seem reasonable from certain angles, the question that really needs to be thought about here is in the optimization of which objective function resources appear before us as a constraint. For the world's resources are sufficient to meet the needs of all people; however, these resources are not sufficient to satisfy the greed of economic actors, namely individuals, companies and states.1 At this point, the correct determination of economic objectives, the prevention of waste and the effective use of resources are of great importance. These three elements are critical for all economic actors: Individuals/households, companies and the state. Mainstream economics claims that economic actors always make rational decisions. Although economic activities developing within the framework of decisions assumed to be rational have an effect that increases economic growth, there is no guarantee that this increase in welfare will be inclusive and sustainable. If economic actors cannot determine their basic objectives correctly, they cause waste and inefficiency. Excessive consumption and the ineffective use of resources bring with them financial crises and environmental problems. The tendency towards excessive consumption triggers uncontrolled borrowing and drags economies into crisis cycles that repeat at certain periods. While in some periods the excessive borrowing tendencies of households and companies give rise to crises, sometimes high public debts appear before us as the main cause of crises. The crises we experience are no longer limited only to economic and financial ones. In the last 200 years of economic life's adventure–especially in an increasingly growing manner since the 1980s—consumption habits and forms of production shaped by preferring extravagance to saving and recklessness to planned and measured action prepared the ground for great environmental disasters. If, after dozens of financial crises and environmental disasters, economic development is truly intended to be made sustainable, there are two keys that will open the door to this change: Saving and the effective use of resources.
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