Doom spending – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

Asteroid economics: why we’re shopping our way through Armageddon

Why do our growing environmental and political crises, bearing existential risk for human beings, trigger irrational spending and consumption? I call it asteroid economics. We consume with abandon because we sense destruction. Why save for a future when we might not exist? Why conserve if the planet is dying? Whether it’s climate collapse, nuclear war or cyber-triggered Armageddon, the figurative asteroid is coming, so we might as well spend now. So-called doom spending – a phenomena where people spend money to cope with stress – presents an unsettling paradox: reports meant to inspire caution instead trigger abandon, self-indulgence. ….[READ]