OPINION: The answer is obvious: Developed economies need to stop growing and start contracting. But that need not be disastrous for their people.
BERLIN—Fifty years ago this spring, one of the most influential books of the 20th century was published. Written for the Club of Rome by Donella Meadows and colleagues at MIT, “The Limits to Growth“ used new computer models to forecast an uncontrollable collapse in the global population and economy if prevailing patterns of environmental resource use and pollution continued.
Far from leading to social collapse, economic growth was thus self-correcting—not to mention the only way for countries to develop out of poverty. The allure of ‘green’ growth Mainstream economists recognize this, of course. But they note that economic growth is measured in terms of national income and output , and there is not a simple relationship between these indicators and environmental degradation. Using renewable energy, recycling waste, and shifting consumption from goods to services can make economic growth much less environmentally damaging.
Live within our means What must be done to avert it? To an increasingly prominent group of environmentalists, the answer is obvious: Developed economies need to stop growing and start contracting. Only “degrowth,” say authors such as Jason Hickel and Giorgos Kallis, can enable the world to live within its environmental means and leave enough resources for the poorest countries to develop.
Because none of these objectives can any longer be guaranteed by economic growth, policy makers need to go “beyond growth” to target them directly. As Kate Raworth, author of “Doughnut Economics,” puts it, we should be “growth-agnostic.”
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