Now is the time to deprioritise economic growth
Last year New Zealand's Pm Jacinda Ardern made international headlines after she released a national budget where spending was dictated in what best encourages the well-being of citizens instead of focussing on traditional bottom-line measures like productivity and economic growth.
The progressive government, that has been credited because of its response to the coronavirus crisis, announced that rather than focusing Gdp (GDP) it would target goals for example community and equity in well-being across generations with what was described as a “game changing event” by LSE professor Richard Layard.
As the Covid-19 pandemic takes hold and people's priorities begin to alter, it appears as though the rest of the world is beginning to take note.
Post-growth economy
In Amsterdam, where the city's economy has been ravished by global travel restrictions, leaders are putting together an unorthodox post-pandemic recovery plan where its main goals aren't about growing the economy or increasing GDP but about creating the city better for individuals and also the planet.
Milan has gone to live in introduce one of Europe's most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking in response to the crisis as well as in France a citizen's assembly has required another social and economic model that's more human and much more resilient when confronted with future downturns.
Winds of change
In the united kingdom, too, winds of change appear to have been exacerbated through the pandemic.
A report commissioned through the Treasury recently figured we have to recognise new measures of success that go beyond GDP. The Dasgupta Review noted the “human economy is embedded within, instead of external to nature”, which a limited paradigm that prizes economic growth at any cost can lead to future crises.
A recent poll of two,000 Brits found eight from 10 people would rather the federal government to prioritise health and wellbeing over economic growth during the coronavirus crisis, and six in 10 would still want the government to pursue health and wellbeing in front of growth after the pandemic has subsided.
The findings reveal that “growth whatsoever costs” isn't something that people will support any more, having a clear appetite to move away from GDP because the only indicator.
The tragedy of growth
As this type of new report continues to be authored by Positive Money calling on the Treasury, the financial institution of England and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to change tack in the way they define growth following a Covid-19 pandemic.
Pulling research from around the globe it argues that GDP growth fails to get results enhanced life satisfaction, poverty alleviation and remains environmentally disruptive. It also sets out steps that people should consider in moving towards a ‘post-growth’ or ‘doughnut economy’, where other indicators are taken into consideration and actively improved upon.
As report author, David Barnes notes: “We are stuck in a tragic relationship with GDP growth, now is the time to flee this relationship and build a brand new system in which the economy is made around people and planet.”
New way
As Caroline Lucas stated, the old system is getting stress tested like never before.
“The idea that we can somehow pursue infinite growth on the finite planet without disastrous social and ecological consequences reaches the core of how most governments run their economies”, she said.
That cannot be the way in which for much longer.
As Lord Deben concluded, “what throwing a nation on its internal resources does is to make people think a lot more clearly by what they think is essential.
“It has given people the opportunity to think differently about their lives.”
