ABSTRACT
Of all the topics covered in this book, growth – the focus of this chapter – is the one where there is probably the largest distance in understanding between the different economic approaches. Is growth a key measure of success or the design flaw at the centre of economic life that is driving us towards environmental collapse? This chapter explores the relationship between economic growth and the state of the environment beginning with the positive view of the neoclassical economists before moving on to a critical perspective. The chapter explores how growth is measured as gross domestic product and how useful it is as a measure of what our economy is achieving. The chapter then explores the connection between economic growth and inequality and how the recognition of planetary limits might affect our view of social justice. Finally, we reach what must surely be the significant question of why economists are so concerned with the quantity of economic growth rather than the quality of the life that we are leading as a result of it? The closing case study explores the way societies are beginning to target well-being rather than economic output as the key measure of political success.
