Title: Post-growth policy instruments

Authors: Peter Ferguson

Addresses: School of Social and Political Sciences and Department of Resource Management and Geography, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

Abstract: This paper proposes a framework to evaluate post-growth policy instruments which gauges their capacity to lessen the pressure for growth emanating from the labour market and the state's contradictory legitimisation and accumulation imperatives, whilst increasing societal well-being and reducing the biophysical throughput of the economy. It is argued that the most effective policies to do this are measures to reduce average working hours, expand low productivity sectors and reduce inequality. Specific policies instruments include public sector expansion and the promotion of cooperatives, the introduction of citizens' basic income schemes, environmental tax reform, the abolition of fossil fuel subsidies, reforms to monetary policy, financial regulatory reform and the introduction of alternative measures of progress to gross domestic product.

Keywords: limits to growth; post-growth economics; policy instruments; growth imperative; biophysical throughput; well-being; working hours; labour productivity; equality; basic income; environmental taxation; fossil fuel subsidies; alternative measures of progress.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2013.058560

International Journal of Green Economics, 2013 Vol.7 No.4, pp.405 - 421

Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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