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Growth, Degrowth or Post-growth? Towards a synthetic understanding of the growth debate

Author

Listed:
  • Xhulia Likaj

    (Forum New Economy)

  • Michael Jacobs

    (University of Sheffield (SPERI))

  • Thomas Fricke

    (Forum New Economy)

Abstract

Arguments about the possibility and desirability of exponential economic growth have animated the environmental movement for half a century, since the publication of the Club of Rome report The Limits to Growth in 1972. The debate has been revived in recent years as the climate crisis has reached centre-stage. This paper seeks to unpick the different strands in the debate and the different kinds of arguments - philosophical, empirical, and policy-prescriptive - used by different writers and institutions. It suggests that the contemporary debate is best understood as a disagreement between political strategies, in which the character of public and academic discourse plays a key role.

Suggested Citation

  • Xhulia Likaj & Michael Jacobs & Thomas Fricke, 2022. "Growth, Degrowth or Post-growth? Towards a synthetic understanding of the growth debate," Basic Papers 2, Forum New Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:agz:bpaper:2202
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Virna Emily Tobing-David & Isbandi Rukminto Adi & Mu’man Nuryana, 2024. "Conditions of Sustainable Welfare: A Cross-Case Empirical Analysis of 22 Locality-Based Welfare Systems in Decentralised Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-27, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic growth; green growth; degrowth; post-growth; wellbeing; GDP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

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