Issues
Continuously increasing material wealth is the Western culture's promise of happiness. It is becoming more and more difficult to keep. There are many reasons for this. But what will happen when this promise of happiness is no longer fulfilled? As long as the populations of the early industrialised countries remain orientated towards augmenting their material wealth, its decline will lead to hefty reactions - to the extent of calling the free democratic order into question. Such reactions must be prevented or at least checked. Therefore loss of material wealth ought to be offset with non-material forms of wealth.
The promise of happiness from increasing material wealth
Risks of decreasing material wealth