Smith raises the issues of storage and maintenance of goods as limitations and problems of the consumer economy, as demand will eventually have to stagnate and credit will one day be denied.
Maryanne Kowaleski argues against this view, arguing that medieval charity, instructional guidebooks, and population growth (paralleled by that of currency), created a consumer economy in the pre-Great Famine era [9] Research by people like Britnell and Campbell suggest commercialization first appeared in the medieval period, and researchers like Christopher Woolgar have studied consumption practices in elite households.
[9] In their economy, they had many exotic items (because of the imperial conquests of the British Empire) and it created an environment for a desire-based mode of shopping that was pleasurable, not mundane.
[10] Romantic literary critic Andrea K. Henderson argued that this influenced Romantic-era poetry because the poets were often part of an urban society.
[11] In an essay for the book "An Emotional History of the United States", Susan J. Matt describes "aspirational envy" within the middle class toward the "bourgeois", during a period with a pool of goods that was growing rather than remaining finite.
[20] In the end of 2021, McKinsey & Company, a global management consultancy, estimated China to be the largest consumer economy today as measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
[21] In 2022, under the influence of the COVID pandemic and the global economic slowdown, Chinese consumers in 2022 grew more cautious in spending and strengthened their intent to put their money in the bank.
That said, McKinsey still observed resilience in China's economy, with a rise of 5.3% in the nominal disposable income per capita and a minimal consumer price inflation of 2.0%.