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Panel 2 – Athens Room –
Complementarity of Degrowth and Steady-State
Chair: Christian Kerschner
Brian Czech
Degrowth toward an optimal steady state
There are two alternatives to growth: steady state and degrowth. Steady state refers to
a stabilisation of the economy, at any level. Both growth and degrowth neither are
sustainable in the long run, so at what level do we want to achieve a steady state? It
looks like peak oil will be the limiting factor to growth, although in some regions it
may be water. Once we're over the peak, the dip afterwards is what concerns us. So
we must determine what is the optimum scale for the economy, based on assessing
various trade-offs based on a full public understanding. Various measures can be used
to determine the optimum level, such as the Genuine Progress Indicator. But what is
politically feasible to advocate? On the one hand we want to change the political
context, but at any one given time we also have to address what is politically feasible.
In some cases we will want to focus on degrowth and in others we will emphasise a
steady state. But at some point in the process of degrowth we will want to stop and
level off into a steady state.
Joachim Spangenberg
Growth and sustainable development
What is sustainable development? (Brundtland Commission definition). People
usually ignore the two key concepts in the definition by quoting only half of it.
Therefore please use it only in full. Regarding the growth debate, most of the time
people focus on the (negative) impacts of economic growth, rather than the (1) driving
forces, orientations, and (2) pressures and mechanisms behind it. Therefore we need
to incorporate all three aspects in our critique of growth, and to avoid addressing only
the symptoms. While Western European discourse calls for carbon justice and
reduced carbon emissions, this is in contradiction with other policies.
For development to be sustainable, the economy must reduce resource consumption
AND create additional jobs. Jobs, growth and the environment are reconciled (for the
time being), if the Inequality of Sustainability is valid. This is a minimum condition
rather than itself ensuring sustainability. This must be the starting point for discourse
and policy.
To ensure that the per-capita production decreases, we can decrease per-capita
working hours.
Growth politics is structurally anti-sustainable, pushing both ends of the inequality in
the wrong direction.
I want to urge you to overcome the preoccupation with the impacts of growth and
focus more on the inherent anti-sustainability of the growth model.
Christian Kerschner
The steady state economy and degrowth: Contradiction or compatibility?
Point of departure: challenging the growth paradigm. This has been challenged in
terms of physics (Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen), socio-economically, ethically,
environmentally, etc. Herman Daly's critique of growth was strong in theoretical
terms based on economic history, and also in its holistic approach. Review of
Ontological vs. Analytical, and Positive vs. Normative approaches. For Adam Smith,
growth was a source of wealth but that it could not continue indefinitely. Thomas
Malthus by contrast raised questions about the limits to growth. John Stuart Mill said
that the steady state would be a "considerable improvement". Review of Herman
Daily's Steady State Economy (SSE) concept. The main idea is that we need to
minimise throughputs and maximise service. SSE as a goal but an unattainable goal.
Review of economic degrowth's strengths and weaknesses. SSE and degrowth are
complementary.
Tommaso Luzzatti
GDP growth: An inevitable lock-in?
Starting point: Society has the right to choose among many choices. Is it really true
that we need GDP growth? The issue of scale/size is political, but society needs to be
informed about the consequences of alternatives to growth. Review of alleged reasons
for growth: widening of choices, equity, reducing unemployment, etc. Should we be
against GDP, against growth, or against growth-mania? We've developed an
economic model with complementary funds and flows. In terms of the transition from
fossil fuels to renewable energy, we can calculate how many resources need to be
diverted to renewables.