CNBC Article on Degrowth Economics

[aurum]

I've been talking about degrowth economics for a while now. Was excited to see CNBC just did a good article on the topic:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/19/degrowth-pushing-social-wellbeing-and-climate-over-economic-growth.html

 

"As policymakers prioritize an economic rebound, scholars are backing an idea that pushes social and ecological wellbeing over a system that pursues relentless economic growth.

"Degrowth would require societies to abandon the idea that the percentage change in gross domestic product is an accurate indicator of progress, and instead learn to live better while producing less."

“We must ask ourselves; do we really want to pursue aggregate growth if it’s going to put our planet — and our civilization — at such extraordinary risk?” Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist, told CNBC via telephone."

“Ultimately, this is the core insight of degrowth. Right now, we assume that every sector of the economy must grow, all the time, regardless of whether or not we actually need it. A more rational approach would be to think about what sectors we actually need to grow, like public transportation and renewable energy, and what sectors are clearly too big and should be scaled down: like SUV production, private cars, the arms industry, advertising, and so on,” Hickel said.

 

This is where economics is heading. The endless debates about capitalism and socialism totally miss the point.

Market activity is also on the chopping block of things that will "degrow". Although I don't see that mentioned.

There is a lot, lot more to the story than this simple article, but it is a good primer for those of you interested in the economics of the future.

[Loving Radiance]

@aurum How would you market this when there is resistance?

[aurum]

15 minutes ago, Loving Radiance said:

@aurum How would you market this when there is resistance?

The same way any social charge is made. The old thinking begins to deviate so hard from reality that it cannot survive.

Glitches are being thrown in the matrix created by the older economic paradigm (2008 financial crisis, health crisis, ecological crisis, etc). Denial has to get larger and larger and becomes more and more obviously untrue.

Eventually reality wins.

Even degrowth is just a subset of new economic thinking that I’m watching emerge. So it’s already happening.

 

In term of more actionable ideas, here’s a list:

1) Education. There is a debate in the community about the word “degrowth” and whether it’s a useful word or not. On the on hand, it accurate gets to the point. On the other it can trigger misconceptions, such as that degrowth implies society will be worse off.

However, if people are properly educated on the topic, then some of those misconceptions can be avoided.

2) Utilizing decentralization methods of communication. Mainstream outlets are limited in their ability explore heterodox ideas. Their function is mostly social coherence, not to deeply explore the cutting edge.

Using decentralized means of communicating (social media, local events, dialogue etc), these ideas can get out there.

3) Success cases. There has to start to be experimentation and successful examples of degrowth being implemented. The more people see it working, the more it will catch on. Andrew Yang will likely be bringing a few degrowth ideas to NY if he wins mayor. So that may be a start.

4) Better transition scenarios. Right now degrowth and other heterodox ideas are suffering from realistic transition scenarios for politicians. It’s nice to say “we should do a UBI!”, but how?

Economics involves complex systems, and unintended consequences can abound. The details of any sort of new policies must be clear and well defined, accounting as much as possible for possible failure scenarios. 

Politicians generally will not do anything overly risky, lest they make a mistake and get voted out. So anything not “business as usual” must be well prepared.

There of course will still be resistance, despite everything I just said. That’s inevitable. But I trust time to do its job.

[Loving Radiance]

@aurum ?