Slow Down or Die: The Economics of Degrowth

Global warming is not the inevitable result of “human nature,” argues economist Parrique in this blistering debut study. Instead, “the primary cause of ecological derailment is... capitalism,” more specifically “the frantic pursuit of growth,” or increased production. Parrique traces the history of the idea of economic growth (which he witheringly paints as “born from an accounting concept in the 1930s”) to show how it has “become a myth with a thousand connotations” and a “symbolic vessel” that no longer serves a “clear function.” Its original purpose was to help revive the American economy after the Great Depression, but over time “the indicator became the objective,” creating an economy of “growth for growth’s sake.” Parrique takes readers through a variety of arguments and examples to show how growth cannot possibly lead to less use of the planet’s resources, and that degrowth, or decreased production, does not actually correlate with recessions as modern conventional wisdom assumes. Parrique’s conclusions are similar to those of Kohei Saito’s Slow Down—the Gordian knot solution to global warming is to reduce working hours. After all, as Parrique drily puts it, “Growth creates activities that almost nobody needs and jobs that almost nobody wants.” The result is an urgent and elegant challenge to the status quo. (May)