ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the ways that growth economics has failed to deliver the promise of a leisurely and free future for emerging generations. Most importantly, growth has not delivered on well-being and happiness. Given this, SDG 8, to promote economic growth, is the most inconsistent goal with any notion of ‘sustainable’. The chapter begins with a brief historical overview of growth economics from early economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo through to modern critics. The chapter pays special attention to the role limits to growth and the emergence of the environmental movement on economic thought. Ultimately, this chapter argues that while we are comparatively better off in terms of basic needs and necessities, economic growth has reached diminishing marginal returns such that we are now in a period of what Daly calls ‘uneconomic’ growth. Using GDP, the chapter argues that better tools are needed to measure success through well-being and happiness instead of economic throughput.
