Lifestyle Tradeoffs and the Decline of Societal Well-being: An Agent-based Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces an agent-based model showing how overvaluing conspicuous well-being aspects and population dynamics can lead to a continuous decline in societal well-being.

Contribution

It develops a semi-quantitative model that links lifestyle choices, social valuation, and societal well-being decline, incorporating heterogeneity and population turnover.

Findings

Overvaluation of conspicuous well-being aspects causes societal decline.

Population heterogeneity and turnover significantly influence well-being trends.

Economic and technological progress impact the dynamics of societal well-being.

Abstract

This paper presents a semi-quantitative mathematical model of the changes over time in the statistical distribution of well-being of individuals in a society. The model predicts that when individuals overvalue the more socially conspicuous aspects of well-being in their lifestyle choices, then the average well-being of the overall population may experience continuous decline. In addition to trade-off cost and overvaluation, we identify statistical variation in individuals' well-being and turnover within the population as key factors driving negative trends. We investigate the influence of the effects of heterogeneity in the population, as well as economic and/or technological progress.