Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book stresses the importance of groundwork in the definition of prosperity, and the manner in which that definition takes root. It explores the intrinsically normative nature of the concept of prosperity. Dominique Meda chronicles the evolution of the identification of prosperity with the abundance of material goods, tracing it back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the accumulation of wealth, both individual and collective, began to be seen as a legitimate pursuit, and then forward to the present. Isabelle Cassiers and Geraldine Thiry offer a historical perspective, looking back on the accounting conventions from which the idea of Gross domestic product (GDP) emerged. The book discusses the impossibility of maintaining social compromise based on the goal of economic growth, and explore what is at stake in today's vast debate over alternative wealth indicators.