Less Is More: Rogue Economists Champion Prosperity without Growth

[caraher]

4. That's a pitfall but not an inevitability

How is wasteful consumption of disposable consumer items in response to manufactured needs the same thing as "prosperity?"

There are parts of the world where there is a genuine need for "development" in the sense you mean, but in most of the developed world, further "growth" brings with it few advantages in terms of health or happiness. And some research suggests that, for developed nations, equality is a more suitable goal than growth per se - a proposal the RW austerity crowd would find anathema!

It certainly is progressive to evaluate policy not in terms of proxy metrics like GDP but in terms of more direct measures of quality of life. But you're right that we should be careful not to let this distinction wrongly be used to suggest that the negative effect of austerity on growth as traditionally measured is not a problem. I just think the worry is fairly remote, given that the usual RW narrative is that austerity is necessary because government overspending throttles growth (despite the fact that the "research" used to support that narrative has been thoroughly discredited!).