ABSTRACT
In addressing pathways to sustainability that co-optimize competitiveness, employment, and the environment, it is clear that more than an economic recovery is needed to respond to the underlying problems of the 2008 financial crises, the causes of which began much earlier. This chapter argues that what is needed instead of economic recovery is a transformation of the industrial state. Developing countries will need appropriate technical, institutional, and financial assistance to make the changes that are needed so desperately, but such changes must place them on a sustainable development trajectory. Given the powerful role of technology and globalization as drivers of change, the chapter argues that the operationally important dimensions of sustainability consist of competitiveness, the environment, and employment and earning capacity. A sustainable development approach must be fashioned to create a competitive and green economy that creates safe, meaningful, and well-paid employment and sufficient earning capacity within the context of rapid technological change and changes in globalization.
