Over the past 20 years, many authors have critically analysed the rapid intensification of global systems of production and consumption, and the economic models driving them, since the end of World War II. Importantly, this work has made visible the impacts of these systems of production and consumption on the health of human and non-human species, the environment and our communities, and the abrogation of basic rights such as those of secure and safe employment, affordable food and housing, and access to education and health services. Naomi Klein (No Logo; Reference Klein1999), Paul Midler (Poorly Made in China; Reference Midler2009 ), Michael Blanding (The Coke Machine; Reference Blanding2010), Paul Roberts (The End of Food; Reference Roberts2009), and Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss (Affluenza; Reference Hamilton and Denniss2005) all provide deep insight into how consumerism and ‘owning’ more and more ‘stuff’ has created a never-ending cycle of wants and needs (and profits) for the few at the expense of the many. We live in a world where measurements of economic growth integrate the costs of dealing with divorce and obesity-related disease with revenue generated from agricultural production and retail sales, to come up with national estimations of ‘progress’. Questions have rightly been — and continue to be — raised about issues of genuine prosperity and sustainable development in the face of mounting evidence of rising inequality, poverty, and environmental damage.

Carolan also analyses these issues through the lens of ‘pigpen economics — where the notion of limits does not exist’ (p. 45). While his analysis of the impacts of greed and ignorance does not reveal anything new that has not been said before, he does also shine a shocking light on the real cost of doing business by using everyday items such as cars, plastic bags and laptops, to expose the sheer scale of misery, disease, poverty and slavery inflicted on the majority of the human race; damage to the climate; loss of environmental productivity; and the theft of opportunity from future generations.

Carolan's particular contribution comes from the linkages he establishes between the purchase price we all pay for these and other everyday items, and the real cost of the production, use, and disposal of such items. He uses a laptop to illustrate how supposedly cheap products are actually expensive, noting that the purchaser of the laptop is responsible for less than 1% of the true cost of its production, use and disposal. The other (more than) 99% is the problem of hidden ‘others’ in terms of resources consumed, waste generated, and the ‘on-costs’ of raw materials extraction and supply chain management (often in poor and conflict-ridden countries ruined by war and corporate theft of natural resources); production and manufacturing (use of toxic chemicals and their exposure effects, including cancer and birth defects, low or no wages, and abuse of workers, including excessive working hours, timed toilet breaks and requirements to sign ‘no suicide’ clauses in employment contracts); operation and use (generation of greenhouse gas emissions); and waste disposal (all of the above). Planned obsolescence exacerbates these issues by preventing the manufacture of products that can be repaired and reused, so that consumers are constantly forced (e.g., no access to new operating software without the new version) or encouraged (e.g., personal fulfilment through product upgrades to the ‘latest version’) to purchase more ‘stuff’. As Carolan notes, this form of cost redistribution (where those reaping the economic gains do so while others bear the costs) means that profits are maximised only for the few and

Cheaponomics is organised into three parts. Part 1 examines the ‘pathology’ of cheaponomics, analysing the what (i.e., cost redistribution), why (i.e., to maximise profits and minimise costs) and larger (disease) effects of today's unfair and unsustainable business models. Carolan demonstrates how literally monetising everything through cost-benefit analysis actually excludes concepts such as ethics and compassion from decision-making and reduces our ability to make robust decisions. This drives inequality, racism, and discrimination; prevents the true value of anything being properly understood; and assigns monetarised value in terms of efficiency. This, for example, explains attitudes such as ‘the cost of doing business in Africa is lower’ — using today's forms of cost-benefit analysis, people in Africa are literally worth less than people elsewhere.

Part 2 illustrates how modern society has been deliberately organised to ‘worship at the altar of cheap’. Carolan uses the examples of vehicles, ‘big box’ retail (e.g., Walmart) and how the nature of work itself has changed to show how government subsidisation of the corporate world creates an illusion of revenue generation. The reality is usually a proliferation of low-wage jobs at the expense of high-wage jobs, institutionalised poverty (low wages means inability to access secure housing and healthcare, and in the worst cases, healthy food and basic education), erosion of local goods and services, and a gradual hollowing-out of community connectedness. People end up working harder for longer to make more money to buy things they do not need — and depriving life of the very things that make life worthwhile, including relationships, community, and time to undertake non-work activities of personal value. This is unstable economically and undermines the health of people and societies.

Carolan also demonstrates how some of the concepts we take for granted as being beneficial to society and the environment — energy efficiency, biodegradable products, and recyclable materials — have been corrupted to influence consumers to justify endless consumerism. Biodegradable plastics? Excellent — provided they do not end up in landfill, given oxygen is required for biodegradation and landfills are anaerobic. Carolan cites the new, and horrifying, profession of landfill archaeology whereby still-recognisable 25-year-old hot dogs and 50-year-old newspapers (still able to be read) have been excavated from landfill sites in the United States. Energy efficient lighting? Brilliant — provided consumers do not then engage in behaviours such as leaving more lights on, leaving lights on for longer, and installing lights where previously they would not have had lighting, due to energy efficient lighting technology now making energy consumption cheaper.

On a more optimistic note, Part 3 examines what society might look like with a focus on ‘affordable’ (instead of ‘cheap’) — where the aim is to design and produce ‘stuff’ that is reusable, repairable and recyclable; and where only three or four of the same item are purchased over 20 years, instead of 20 or 30 of the same item over 5 years. As ‘stuff’ becomes more affordable for more people, inequality could be reduced and production intensity decreased (because ‘stuff’ is better made, made to last and can serve a variety of purposes). In turn, there would be no need to work excessive hours, to make more money, to buy ‘stuff’ that is not needed, which ruins other people's lives and the environment, and which does not lead to happiness anyway. Carolan notes that more equal societies perform better on wellbeing, health and social indicators, treat women and children better, have a greater sense of collective responsibility, lower rates of mental illness, higher levels of food security, and higher preparedness to cooperate in support of international environmental agreements, and higher levels of innovation.

So, what is Carolan's solution? To rethink the idea of owning ‘stuff’ — and instead, access ‘stuff’ through collaborative consumption and the re-establishment of societies with markets (rather than the current model, of societies as slaves to markets). According to Carolan, the tide is already turning — examples include services such as Airbnb, Go Get and Uber, as well as ‘peer-to-peer renting’ of unused items in wardrobes, garages and storage sheds. Interaction increasingly facilitated by the internet and social media is rebuilding local economies and, more importantly, trust, social capital, relationships, and societies. Large-scale reform of taxation, government, legislation, political process, corporations/institutions, wages and pricing, increasing access to health care and education, and encouraging labor intensity and mobility is the broader context within which Carolan believes the shift from ownership to access must occur.

But the question has to be asked — will this be where a world of over 7 billion people ultimately chooses (or is able to choose?) to go? As Carolan also points out, the current economic system emphasises personal choice as the key driver of production and consumption, with the system itself largely hidden from view. With the focus on the individual consumer and their responsibility to make ‘healthy choices’, there is no incentive to address the real issue of government, corporate and institutional accountability. At the time of writing, the accelerating fallout from the June 2016 ‘Brexit’ vote in Western Europe and the United Kingdom is a major, but by no means the only, current demonstration of abuse of political process and the reasons behind widespread disillusionment and disenfranchisement of individuals and communities (Mason & Syal, Reference Mason and Syal2016; Robertson, Reference Robertson2016) — unsound economic development, cost redistribution and unsustainable ways of doing business have played their part in Brexit. In the modern economy, it is no longer clear cut whether the exercise of genuine choice by consumers, as individuals, citizens or voters, will be a powerful enough mechanism to turn society away from the insanity of ‘cheaponomics’. What Cheaponomics can and should do, however, is shock individuals — as consumers, citizens and voters — into a more careful examination of their own consumption behaviours and inspire them to begin to rebuild their own local communities, even if it is only by starting small, ditching plastic bags, introducing themselves to neighbours, and seeing who else might need that lawnmower for an afternoon or two.