What do we want from economic growth? What sort of a society are we aiming for? In everyday economics, there is no such thing as enough, or too much, growth. Yet in the world’s most developed countries, growth has already brought unrivalled prosperity: we have ‘arrived’. More than that, through debt, inequality, climate change and fractured politics, the fruits of growth may rot before everyone has a chance to enjoy them. It’s high time to ask where progress is taking us, and are we nearly there yet? In fact, Trebeck and Williams claim in this ground-breaking book, the challenge is now to make ourselves at home with this wealth, to ensure, in the interests of equality, that everyone is included. They explore the possibility of ‘Arrival’, urging us to move from enlarging the economy to improving it, and the benefits this would bring for all.
Author(s): Katherine Trebeck, Jeremy Williams
Publisher: Policy Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 224
City: Bristol
THE ECONOMICS OF ARRIVAL
Contents
List of figures, table and boxes
Figures
Table
Boxes
List of abbreviations
About the authors
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface
1. Introduction
About this book
2. The fruits of growth
Good growth and bad growth
3. Are the fruits of growth beginning to rot?
Unsafe growth
An unevenly shared harvest
Growth that hurts
Over-development
4. Stockholm Syndrome? How the economy fell in love with its captor
5. Rushing past our stop: failure demand, uneconomic growth and consolation goods
6. Embracing Arrival and making ourselves at home
What is a good life anyway?
Getting it right first time around: preventing uneconomic growth and failure demand
What about decoupling?
7. What we might find in making ourselves at home
Sharing and predistribution
Shared work, better work
Fulfilment beyond consumption
Stewardship of the commons
A circular and collaborative economy
New business practices
Participatory democracy
Globally: convergence, climate justice and leap-frogging
8. Arrival and making ourselves at home in the real world
Development as creating the conditions of wellbeing
Two candidates for Arrival
Stakeholder decision making
Good work
Pro-social business models
From conspicuous consumption to experientialism and conspicuous citizenship
A renewable and circular economy
Collaborative economy
9. Are we nearly there yet?
Charting Arrival
Two contrasting countries
10. From individual initiatives to wider change: agitation, amplification and attention
Pioneers, regimes and change agents
Arise and amplify
The new normal
Making good choices
Attention: talking about Arrival and making ourselves at home
Measuring making ourselves at home
11. Choosing Arrival – one step at a time
Steps for international institutions
Steps for governments
Steps for businesses
Steps for cities and local communities
Steps for individuals
12. Conclusion
Appendix
Further reading
Money and finance
Housing and land
Technology
Trade
Education
Politics
Notes
References
Index
