Economic growth has brought prosperity for large parts of the growing world population. But it also expanded the use of nature's resources and absorption capacities to a critical extent. The transition to sustainability that policy making therefore tries to promote may, however, have adverse effects on the growth path. If so, how will consumer welfare be affected? How can policy interventions be legitimized if they cause welfare sacrifices? How will consumers as voters react in the political decision making process if such interventions are proposed? For answering these questions the present paper develops an extended explanation of consumption behavior and welfare related to work in the human sciences on the evolved foundations of human behavior. The approach allows a differentiated view on the driving forces and the welfare effects of consumption growth as well as legitimization and acceptance problems of different sustainability-promoting policy options.

经济增长为大部分不断增长的世界人口带来了繁荣。但它也将自然资源的使用和吸收能力扩展到了一个关键的程度。然而，政策制定试图促进的向可持续性的过渡可能会对增长路径产生不利影响。如果是这样，消费者福利会受到怎样的影响？如果政策干预造成福利牺牲，如何使其合法化？如果提出此类干预措施，作为选民的消费者将如何在政治决策过程中做出反应？为了回答这些问题，本文对与人类科学工作相关的消费行为和福利进行了扩展解释，以人类行为的进化基础。