It depends: Varieties of defining growth dependence

Anja Janischewski, Katharina Bohnenberger, Matthias Kranke, Tobias Vogel, Riwan Driouich, Tobias Froese, Stefanie Gerold, Raphael Kaufmann, Lorenz Key{\ss}er, Jannis Niethammer, Christopher Olk, Matthias Schmelzer, Asl{\i} Y\"ur\"uk and Steffen Lange
Additional contact information
Anja Janischewski: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Chemnitz University of Technology
Katharina Bohnenberger: German Institute for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research, University of Bremen, SOCIUM and Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen
Matthias Kranke: Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
Tobias Vogel: Department for Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Faculty of Economy and Society, Witten/Herdecke University
Riwan Driouich: Institut de Ci\`encia i Tecnologia Ambientals
Tobias Froese: Chair for Corporate Sustainability, ESCP Business School
Stefanie Gerold: Institute of Philosophy and Social Science, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
Raphael Kaufmann: ZOE Institute for Future-Fit Economies
Lorenz Key{\ss}er: Institute of Geography and Sustainability, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne
Jannis Niethammer: ICLEI European Secretariat
Christopher Olk: Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science, Freie Universit\"at Berlin
Matthias Schmelzer: Norbert-Elias-Center for Transformation Design and Research, University of Flensburg, Germany and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
Asl{\i} Y\"ur\"uk: Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory
Steffen Lange: Centre for Pluralist Economics, University of Siegen

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Abstract: Many socio-economic systems require positive economic growth rates to function properly. Given uncertainty about future growth rates and increasing evidence that economic growth is a driver of social and environmental crises, these growth dependencies pose serious societal challenges. In recent years, more and more researchers have thus tried to identify growth-dependent systems and develop policies to reduce their growth dependence. However, the concept of 'growth dependence' still lacks a consistent definition and operationalization, which impedes more systematic empirical and theoretical research. This article proposes a simple but powerful framework for defining and operationalizing the concept of 'growth dependence' across socio-economic systems. We provide a general definition consisting of four components that can be specified for different empirical cases: (1) the system under investigation, (2) the unit of measurement of growth, (3) the level of growth and (4) the relevant functions or properties of the system under investigation. According to our general definition, a socio-economic system is growth-dependent if it requires a long-term positive growth rate in terms of a unit of economic measurement to maintain all its functions or properties that are relevant within the chosen normative framework. To illustrate the usefulness of our scheme, we apply it to three areas at the heart of the existing literature on growth dependence: employment, social insurance systems and public finance. These case studies demonstrate that whether or not a system is growth-dependent hinges not only on the empirical properties of the system itself but also on the specification of the concept of growth dependence. Our framework enables coherent, robust and effective definitions and research questions, fostering comparability of findings across different cases and disciplines.

Date: 2024-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-hme
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