In Search of Employment Creation via Environmental Valorisation: Exploring a Possible Eco-Keynesian Future for Europe

By the mid-1970s it had become clear over much of the advanced capitalist world that rapid economic growth, profitable production, rising material living standards, and full employment had ceased to be simultaneously attainable objectives. Moreover, it was also clear that the mass economy had grave environmental impacts. We begin this paper by briefly considering this transition before going on to examine the nature of the contemporary unemployment problem and to evaluate current approaches to job creation. We go on to explore an alternative approach based upon a transition to a different development trajectory, to a more sustainable regime of accumulation and enabling a eco-Keynesian mode of regulation, that simultaneously addresses issues of job creation and environmental valorisation. The appropriate territorial basis of regulation within Europe is then discussed. Last, some conclusions are drawn and the sustainability of the alternative approach is discussed.