AIM Framework glossary
Easterlin Plateau
Canonical definition
The Easterlin plateau is the empirical time-series pattern that, beyond a certain level, further GDP growth yields little or no gain in reported life satisfaction, which AIM explains as economies shifting from an A-dominated growth phase to M-dominated growth without commensurate investment in I.
Explanation
Once basic needs are largely covered, extra money tends to chase High Observability Goods, and status races, inflating Mimetic Desire rather than genuinely expanding secure A-floors or rich I-domains. AIM predicts that well-being will then flatten, unless societies consciously redirect marginal resources toward Intrinsically Motivated opportunities and mimetic damping instead of ever-finer status distinctions.
Epistemic status
Validated Empirical Pattern.
Derivation
Also in the entry
Distinction from Easterlin Paradox. The Plateau names the time-series observation: income-satisfaction curves flatten past a threshold. The Easterlin Paradox names the puzzle that emerges when this Plateau is set alongside the persistent within-country positive correlation between income and satisfaction.
Related terms
- Easterlin Paradox
- Mimetic Premium (PM)
- High-Observability Goods
- Mimetic Treadmill