Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY):
Modeling Inequality and Use of Resources in the
Collapse or Sustainability of Societies
Unequal Society
. . . most closely reflecting the reality of our world today . . . .
Egalitarian Society
… depletion alone, if large enough, can result in a collapse — even in
the absence of economic stratifi cation.
Equitable Society (with Workers and Non-Workers)
. . . a much higher ratio of Non-Workers
to Workers, shows that a collapse in an equitable society could be avoided by reducing the average
depletion per capita. We note that this scenario could also represent a situation where, rather
than having paid Non-Workers, the workload per capita is reduced, with the whole population
working fewer days a week”. Such a work-sharing” policy has been successfully implemented
in Germany over the past few years for reducing unemployment . . .
UTA’S COMMENT:
Above I show a few extracts from this Handy report.
AuntyUta 
What is an Equitable Society (with Workers and Non-Workers)?
As I understand it, the number of non-workers could be reduced by work sharing. That would mean people on average would earn a bit less, which in turn means consumption would be reduced. Is not an overall reduction in consumption a good thing, long term? Resources and the environment would be less depleted!
However in a capitalist society we are always told that each year there should be an increase in earnings and consumption! Why can we not be taught that we can have a reasonably good standard of living even with less consumption? Is it really beneficial to consume more and more?
Would not an overall reduction in consumption be a good thing not just for the so called ‘commoners’ but also for the elite? And everybody could work less and spend more time doing things that are recreational. There would not be so much bad stress any more and people’s health would improve, meaning less medical costs!