Is economic growth a requirement for human flourishing?
In short: We often treat GDP as the ultimate scoreboard for success, but the link between wealth and well-being is far from settled. While some argue growth is the only path out of poverty, others suggest that our obsession with expansion might be the very thing undermining our health, happiness, and environment.
The debate over whether economic growth is essential for prosperity has been active since 1987, following the publication of 'Our Common Future.' This tension reflects two opposing worldviews. On one side, many institutions argue that sustained growth is the primary driver for reducing extreme poverty, creating jobs, and funding public infrastructure. Empirical data shows that changes in GDP per capita account for the vast majority of historical variations in global poverty rates, facilitating what economist Angus Deaton calls a 'great escape' from deprivation through improved longevity and material well-being. On the other side, a growing movement argues that growth may be at odds with human prosperity. The Degrowth movement and ecological economists like Tim Jackson suggest that overconsumption fuels environmental degradation and social inequality. In 2021, Partha Dasgupta highlighted that prosperity has come at a 'devastating' cost to biodiversity, suggesting that sustainable progress requires moving beyond GDP as a primary metric. This perspective posits that many community problems are actually results of growth rather than symptoms of its absence. At the heart of this conflict is the definition of prosperity itself. While economic notions often compete with spiritual or health-based ones, holistic measures like the Legatum Prosperity Index attempt to bridge the gap. By synthesizing data from 56 sources—including the World Health Organization and the Global Slavery Index—these models suggest that true flourishing requires balancing economic freedom, secure property rights, and inclusive institutions with non-financial goals like family life, health, and social relationships.
Over the last few decades, the reduction of severe poverty has been mainly propelled by economic expansion.
Tim Jackson published 'Material Concerns' in 1996 regarding the conflict between wellbeing and growth.
Partha Dasgupta argued in 2021 that sustainable growth requires abandoning GDP as a measure of progress. The Legatum Prosperity Index uses data from 56 separate sources to rank 169 nations.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Prosperity
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