An Alternative Perspective for Growth, Development, and Transformation

Gerardo Rivera Ungson and Sixto K. Roxas

Chapter 7 in From Alleviation to Empowerment:Ruminations on Poverty, Capitalism, and Communities, 2026, pp 149-173 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: Conceptions of growth and development that underpin theories of economics, business management, and public policy are so deeply ingrained in our mindset that we rarely examine their main premises. For most of our lives, we are socialized into thinking that growth is good, that more growth is even better, and that continuous growth over time is divine. At the individual level, having more financial resources today than last year is progress. Business organizations typically measure their progress in terms of larger assets, higher profits, and a rising stock price. National governments grade their economic policies on growth in gross national income over time. All in all, more growth is good; to think otherwise is counterproductive, if not perverse, and perhaps even unpatriotic…

Keywords: Poverty; Poverty Alleviation; Poverty Eradication; Inter-generational Poverty; Environmental Degradation; Sustainable Development; Community Empowerment; Social Accounting; Human Settlements; Development Economics; Unsustainable Development; Ecological Sustainability; Capitalism; Free Market; Economic Orthodoxy; Classical Economics: Marx; Radical Economics; Bretton Woods; Sectoral Development; Sectoral Specializations; Neo-liberalism; Enterprise Management; Modern Corporation; Modern Enterprises; Microfinance; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprises; Capacity Building; Conditional Cash Transfer; Mainstream Growth Theory; Biogenesis; Mechanistic Worldview; Jurgen Habermas; Spectrum of Consciousness; Communitarian Movement; Moral Capitalism; Humane Economy; Enterprise Logic; Communitarian Logic; Ekistics; Enterprise Accounting; Community-based Accounting System; Social Accounting; Valuation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 O15 O18 Q01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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