Sufficiency dividends and voracious sobriety: exploring the paradox of “less for more” in transport and beyond

Florent Laroche ()
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Florent Laroche: LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - ENTPE - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between sufficiency policies and individuals' propensity to consume. It is based on the counterintuitive hypothesis that the reduction or elimination of a consumption — particularly when it is constrained (transport, housing, etc.) — can generate a monetary surplus (sufficiency dividends) within individuals' budgets, which will then be reallocated to existing and/or new consumptions (voracious sobriety). To test this hypothesis, a serious game was implemented. Individuals play independently and must make consumption choices within a fixed budget across two different scenarios. The game was proposed to 1000 participants representative of the French population. Results validate the hypothesis that monetary gains with low-consumption lifestyle can allow individuals to relax the income constraint and satisfy new needs. All population profiles appear likely to adopt this mechanism, with a higher probability for students and individuals who are sensitive to environmental issues. Finally, the most favored sufficiency solutions belong to categories of non-essential consumption. It suggests that a part of the sufficiency dividends could be used to support non-essential consumption. These results call for a broad reflection from an economic regulation perspective in order to effectively manage these reallocation effects.

Keywords: Sufficiency; Consumption; Transport; Rebound effect; Reallocation effect; Surplus; Working Papers du LAET (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-25
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