The Evolving Attitudes of Institutional Economists: From Growth to Degrowth

The growth imperative characteristic of consumer capitalism rests on continuous mass production, fueled by fossil fuels, legitimized by the assumption that wants are infinite. Institutionalists have generally attributed growth to technology, a manifestation of the community’s knowledge base applied to increasing throughput to produce goods. That same technology, however, may precipitate degrowth, a decline in the throughput making growth possible. The first section attributes the Great Acceleration to continuous mass production, requiring the corporate form of business enterprise. The second section explains the degrowth movement focusing on the work of George Kallis. Degrowth arose in response to the adverse effects of growth, providing an ecological critique of mainstream economics. Degrowth advocates minimizing throughput. The third section briefly traces the evolution of institutionalists’ attitudes towards growth, attitudes guided by the principles of instrumental valuation and social provisioning. The fourth section offers a conclusion, focusing on pecuniary emulation pushing people to live at the pecuniary standard, a standard that continues to rise with increases in throughput and innovation.