Revisiting Keynes in the Light of the Transition to Circular Economy

Patrizia Ghisellini (), Renato Passaro () and Sergio Ulgiati ()
Additional contact information
Patrizia Ghisellini: Parthenope University of Naples
Renato Passaro: Parthenope University of Naples
Sergio Ulgiati: Parthenope University of Naples

Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2021, vol. 1, issue 1, 143-171

Abstract: Abstract The study briefly recalls the evolution and crisis of the theory and thought of John Maynard Keynes with the rise and progressive dominance of the neoliberalism paradigm. The exercise has been made for evaluating the effects of such process for the sustainability of the global economy and society. In this view, we explored how Keynes’ contribution could be useful for the global economy in building a new paradigm of socio-economic development underpinning the transition to circular economy (CE). We also evaluated the adoption of the Global Green New Deal including a case study of Italy for the purpose of suggesting how that topical political programme can be key in the CE transition. Given the urgency of environmental problems, we underline the importance of the adoption of Keynesian expansionary “green mission oriented” fiscal policies with the purpose of allowing the triggering of a virtuous circle of sustainable welfare involving the Green New deal and the transition to CE. At the basis of such virtuous circle, we propose a new paradigm based on a revisited Keynesian paradigm and models of economy within the framework of Genovesi’s “civil economy” that entails an active role and responsibility of all the societal actors (consumers, companies and institutions). In this view, the “spirit” of Keynes in the economy, policy and society could be appreciated once more and be extremely useful along with other scholars’ contributions in accelerating the CE transition and a more sustainable development.

Keywords: Keynes; Circular economy; Expansionary fiscal policies; Green new deal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43615-021-00016-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:circec:v:1:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s43615-021-00016-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/43615

DOI: 10.1007/s43615-021-00016-1

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Circular Economy and Sustainability from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().