Sozialalmanach - Caritas Luxembourg

Prosperity without Growth
T i m J A C k s o n
This chapter is a summary of Prosperity without Growth – economics for a finite planet
published by Earthscan in 2009 1 . The book was a revised and expanded version of Tim
Jackson’s report for the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory body to the
UK governments.
Paradise Lost?
Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth.
For the last five decades the pursuit of growth has been the single most important policy
goal across the world. The global economy is almost 5 times the size it was half a century
ago. If it continues to grow at the same rate that it has done, the economy will be 80 times
that size by the year 2100.
This extraordinary ramping up of global economic activity is without historical
precedent. It appears to be totally at odds with our scientific knowledge of the finite
resource base and the fragile ecology on which we depend for survival. And it has already
been accompanied by the degradation of an estimated 60% of the world’s ecosystems.
For the most part, we tend to avoid the stark reality of these numbers. The conventional
formula for achieving prosperity relies on the continued pursuit of economic growth: higher
incomes will increase wellbeing and lead to prosperity for all, in this view.
The default assumption is that – financial crises aside – growth will continue indefinitely.
Not just for the poorest countries, where a better quality of life is essential, but even for
the richest nations. Even where the cornucopia of material wealth is beginning to threaten
the foundations of our wellbeing.
The reasons for this collective blindness are easy enough to find. The modern economy
is structurally reliant on economic growth for its stability. When growth falters – as it has
done recently – politicians panic. Businesses struggle to survive. People lose their jobs and
1 See www.earthscan.co.uk/pwg for further details (NDé: La version française « Prospérité sans croissance »
vient de paraître chez De Boeck).
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