Our new review paper @TheLancet Planetary Health assesses the literature on #PostGrowth - its claims, evidence, models and open questions. (Thread) sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
#PostGrowth refers to societies that do not pursue GDP growth as an objective, and which are able to meet human needs in an equitable way without growth while staying within their fair share of planetary boundaries.
The concept of #PostGrowth encompasses #DoughnutEconomics, #SteadyStateEconomics, & #Degrowth. While the first two work within capitalism, degrowth calls for a transformation of the economic system to reduce ecological impact & inequality.
The review revisits "Limits to Growth", noting that while tech advancements were once seen as a solution, increasing resource prices suggest limits to growth may be real. Current trends, nonetheless, align more with the "Double Resources" scenario where pollution drives collapse.
Debate continues over "decoupling" GDP from resource use & emissions. Absolute resource decoupling is not happening and probably never will. C emissions must absolutely decrease, and in some cases do, but there is still no case of sufficient (fast enough) absolute decoupling.
The review highlights that beyond a certain income level, GDP growth doesn't improve wellbeing. The "social limits" hypothesis suggests that humans adapt to higher income and compare themselves to others; the "social costs" that the costs of more growth may exceed the benefits.
Studies show that social outcomes like health and education improve due to factors other than income, like public health programs. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), a more comprehensive wellbeing metric, has decoupled from GDP.
High-income countries are experiencing declining growth, prompting questions about the stability of systems dependent on growth. Post-growth research explores how to avert instability through policies like reduced working hours, job guarantees and wealth redistribution.
#PostGrowth policy proposals include universal basic services, reduced working hours, job guarantees, & carbon/resource taxes. Incipient ecological macroeconomic models test these interventions, finding lower growth can co-exist with better climate outcomes and stable societies.
Big thanks to my amazing coauthors @jasonhickel, @DrDanONeill, @ProfTimJackson, peter victor, @KateRaworth, @JKSteinberger, @JulietSchor, @DianaUrge . It took three years of hard work to complete this review, but here at long last it is! END
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
