Assessing the degrowth discourse: A review and analysis of academic degrowth policy proposals

Abstract

Highlights We present a review of a selection of peer-reviewed degrowth articles. We identify inconsistencies between the degrowth discourse and proposals for action. Identified degrowth proposals are mainly national top-down approaches not local bottom-up ones. Proposals aim for sustainable scale and fair distribution over efficient allocation. Proposals should be analysed in combination to arrive at a degrowth policy mix. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTand analysing a set of proposals for action retrieved from a selection of articles. total of 128 peerreviewed articles focused on degrowth were reviewed, and 54 that include proposals for action were analysed. The proposals identified align with three broad goals: (1) Reduce the environmental impact of human activities; (2) Redistribute income and wealth both within and between countries; and (3) Promote the transition from a materialistic to a convivial and participatory society. The findings indicate that the majority of degrowth proposals are national top-down approaches, focusing on government as a major driver of change, rather than local bottom-up approaches, as advocated by many degrowth proponents. The most emphasised aspects in the degrowth literature are related to social equity, closely followed by environmental sustainability. Topics such as population growth and the implications of degrowth for developing nations are largely neglected, and represent an important area for future research. Moreover, there is a need for a deeper analysis of how degrowth proposals would act in combination.

How big is big enough? Toward a sustainable future by examining alternatives to the conventional economic growth paradigm

“…Concepts grouped under this umbrella term share the logic that the sustainability crisis originates in the roots of the conventional growth economy, and support the idea that a total transformation of the economy is essential for addressing the related challenges (Cosme et al, ). Negative growth also focuses on the importance of subjective well‐being and thus places less (or zero) importance on economic growth for achieving this goal (Bilancini & D’Alessandro, ).…”

“…The following questions must therefore be raised: what are the alternative framings to the conventional growth paradigm, and how can policy catalyze them? Valuable literature reviews have been carried out on the topic of the economic growth paradigm (Spash, ), addressing degrowth from a policy perspective (Cosme, Santos, & O’Neill, ; Weiss & Cattaneo, ) and the notion of growth itself (van den Bergh, ). In addition, Urhammer and Røpke () provide a review of macroeconomic narratives, attempting to address the conventional growth crisis, Dryzek () structures and discusses how the economy and society are related to environmental and planetary boundaries, while Toth and Szigeti () suggest the concept of “fullness” instead of the economic growth paradigm.…”

The accelerated infectious disease risk in the Anthropocene: more outbreaks and wider global spread

“…(3) The most sustainable scenario is, however, to decrease or even reverse global mobility rates of humans and other carriers and vectors, especially if it is part and parcel of a much larger movement towards global sustainability by reducing humanity's environmental footprint and replacing unsustainable economic growth with sustainable economic degrowth (Schneider et al, 2010;Daly and Farley, 2011;Alexander, 2012;Czech, 2013;Galaz, 2014;Cosme et al, 2017;Weiss and Cattaneo, 2017;Chiengkul, 2018;Sandberg et al, 2019;Schmid, 2019). Such a general, comprehensive and global slowdown of mobility of both uninfected and infected people and vectors would be opposed for many reasons and by many interest groups, mainly based on economic arguments based around the need for continuous economic growth which has so far almost always been positively linked with increased mobility (e.g., Arvin et al, 2015;Hakim and Merkert, 2016;UNWTO, 2017;Saidi et al, 2018;Nasreen et al, 2020).…”

The Virtuous Circle of Sustainable Welfare as a Transformative Policy Idea

“…It provides a broader frame for various policy alternatives that have previously been developed in different research fields without clear connections with one another [1]. The list of suggested policy alternatives for welfare state reform is already abundant in degrowth research and in research discussions on sustainable welfare e.g., [1,3,44,[49][50][51] but a shared narrative is missing. New policy ideas can pave the way for implementing new policy alternatives due to the dialogical nature of policy ideas and measures [21] (p. 9).…”