©️ Alfred Zhao, 2024
Jan 12, 2024
Degrowth is the policy by which economies and nations should “abandon growth of gross domestic product (GDP) as a goal, scale down destructive and unnecessary forms of production to reduce energy and material use, and focus economic activity around securing human needs and well-being” (Hickel, et. al). In theory, this is the only way forward for humanity’s survival and prosperity. In practice, this seems unlikely to ever happen.
Most shot callers in major industries have no reasons to support degrowth. Oftentimes, their goals are diametrically opposed to this endeavor. Industries such as fossil fuels serve as good examples. They are highly traditional with long business cycles, and most players in this game have one objective - to keep their businesses running smoothly and efficiently. To ask these people to willingly play along with degrowth is absurd.
Degrowth is similarly unappealing to those that have associated rapid economic growth with prosperity. To the people that have benefitted the most from our current economic structures, asking for degrowth is akin to asking them to give up their power and wealth. When applying this mentality to political entities, we see a similar occurrence. Degrowth is impossible for empires and nations that want to maintain their spheres of influence. Modern political leaders know that might is derived from economic strength and technological sophistication.
In summary, degrowth faces a massive branding issue. It is associated with scaling down and relinquishing influence, making the idea an easy target for pundits. What then, could replace it?
A neutral term that is similar to degrowth but does not suffer from negative semantics would be a better alternative. Regrowth, for example is an easy choice.
Regrowth, then, could be a reframing; rather than scaling down, economies should “scale within”. Rather than straining public coffers via thoughtless infrastructure, we build assets that are dialed in and effective, that amortize gracefully on the balance sheet. Rather than always building new, we create repairable, backwards compatible systems. Rather than building energy infrastructure that has high levels of exposure to commodity prices, we create a resilient, diversified portfolio of options that will function regardless of supply fluctuations and geopolitical tension.
While these thoughts are public sector thoughts, these ideas can be applied to all scalable economic systems. They illustrate the core principle of regrowth; strengthening the underlying assets that make up our economic structures such as people, culuture, infrastructure, institutions, and even the biosphere will do unfathomable good for the future wealth of the human race.
This paradigm would be more palatable for business leaders and polticians because it provides incentives to all stakeholders, shareholders included. While degrowth argues for a vague deceleration of growth, regrowth argues for putting our foot firmly back on the gas pedal, albeit in a radically new manner. It opts for growth that is meaningful, robust, and resilient.
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