ABSTRACT
The financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the subsequent period of economic turmoil have served as a wake-up call for several research fields including sustainable consumption studies. It is notable that literature at the nexus of consumption and the environment previously devoted little attention to the financial system. Take, for instance, the anthology edited by Reisch and Røpke (2004) with no contributions on finance or Tim Jackson's (2006) comprehensive reader on sustainable consumption in which only the contribution by Juliet Schor (2006) refers briefly to financial management. When assessing the drivers of consumption, credit is often mentioned in passing as one of the factors used to attract consumers, but authors have been more apt to emphasize the importance of advertising much more than credit (e.g., Durning, 1992). This situation changed with the financial crisis that highlighted how important debt had become in many advanced economies as the means with which to ensure effective demand. Tim Jackson (2009) made the connection clear when he wrote, “One clearly identifiable feature of advanced economies in the period preceding the crisis was the rise and rise of consumer indebtedness. Over the course of more than a decade consumer debt served as a deliberate mechanism for freeing personal spending from wage income and allowing consumption to drive the dynamics of growth.”
