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Growth: A History and a Reckoning

AUTHOR Susskind, Daniel; Susskind, Daniel; Susskind, Daniel
PUBLISHER Tantor Audio (05/14/2024)
PRODUCT TYPE Audio (MP3 CD)

Description
Economic growth has freed billions from the struggle for subsistence. Yet prosperity has come at a price: environmental destruction, desolation of local cultures, the rise of vast inequalities, and destabilizing technologies. Faced with such damage, many now claim that the only way forward is through "degrowth," deliberately shrinking our economic footprint. Instead, Daniel Susskind argues, we must keep growth but redirect it, making it better reflect what we truly value. Susskind shows how policymaking came to revolve around a single-minded quest for greater GDP. This is a recent development: economic growth was barely discussed until the second half of the twentieth century. And our understanding of what drives it is more recent still. Only lately have we come to see how humankind emerged from its millennia of stagnation: through the sustained discovery of powerful and productive new ideas. This insight undermines the mantra that "we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet," for the world of ideas is infinitely vast. Yet we can no longer focus on its upsides alone. We must confront the tradeoffs, Susskind contends: sometimes, societies will have to deliberately pursue less growth for the sake of other goals. These will be moral decisions, not simply economic ones, demanding the engagement not just of politicians and experts but of all citizens.
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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9798874837105
Binding: CD-Audio (MP3 Format)
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Carton Quantity: 100
Feature Codes: Unabridged
Country of Origin: US
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Business & Economics | Economics - Macroeconomics
Business & Economics | Economic History
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing
Economic growth has freed billions from the struggle for subsistence. Yet prosperity has come at a price: environmental destruction, desolation of local cultures, the rise of vast inequalities, and destabilizing technologies. Faced with such damage, many now claim that the only way forward is through "degrowth," deliberately shrinking our economic footprint. Instead, Daniel Susskind argues, we must keep growth but redirect it, making it better reflect what we truly value. Susskind shows how policymaking came to revolve around a single-minded quest for greater GDP. This is a recent development: economic growth was barely discussed until the second half of the twentieth century. And our understanding of what drives it is more recent still. Only lately have we come to see how humankind emerged from its millennia of stagnation: through the sustained discovery of powerful and productive new ideas. This insight undermines the mantra that "we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet," for the world of ideas is infinitely vast. Yet we can no longer focus on its upsides alone. We must confront the tradeoffs, Susskind contends: sometimes, societies will have to deliberately pursue less growth for the sake of other goals. These will be moral decisions, not simply economic ones, demanding the engagement not just of politicians and experts but of all citizens.
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