The shrinking arguments for slowing growth
Economic growth isn’t everything for everyone, but it turns out it’s pretty close.
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The tight link between growth in GDP per capita and reduction in poverty is one of the most remarkable findings in economic research, says the writer.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
John Burn-Murdoch
It has been a big moment for the degrowth movement. First, French economist Thomas Piketty and a team of researchers published the Global Justice Report in June, a proposal for radically reshaping the world economy in the service of social justice and environmental sustainability, including, as a core requirement, cutting annual per capita economic growth in the West to a trickle of 0 to 0.5 per cent.
He was then joined by others, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, arguing that “‘growth’ is a doomed strategy”.
