 Turning less into more: Measuring real GDP growth in the green transitionNick O'Donovan Ecological Economics, 2024, vol. 224, issue C Abstract: Proponents of degrowth query the compatibility of ecological sustainability with economic growth and a capitalist system predicated on the ongoing expansion of economic output. This article deploys insights from constructivist political economy and recent literature on the politics of technocratic expertise to build upon and challenge this analysis. Using UK national accounting practices as a case study, it explores how current approaches to GDP measurement both facilitate and obstruct the treatment of reduced material throughput as increased economic output, of “less” as “more”. Rather than advancing an alternative to GDP growth, it highlights how tensions between the pursuit of growth and the pursuit of sustainability might be reduced using conceptual resources drawn from within established approaches to national accounting and GDP measurement. Although far from a panacea, changes in technocratic practices of national accounting could reduce economic and political barriers to green transition policies. Keywords: Green transition; Sustainability; Degrowth; Social constructivism; GDP; Consumer price index (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:224:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001903 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108293 Access Statistics for this article Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier |
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