What is Degrowth?
Degrowth is a movement and school of thought that questions the goal of ever-higher economic output. Its supporters say that a planet with limits cannot support endless growth, and that rich countries have already passed the point where more output makes lives better. They call for a planned, fair reduction in how much energy and raw material the richest economies use. Importantly, they do not mean a recession, which hurts the poor most. They want an economy built around needs: good food, housing, health care, free time and strong communities. Many also want shorter working weeks, more public services and a fairer split of income. The idea is mostly aimed at wealthy nations, not at poorer ones that still need to raise living standards.
Core beliefs
- The economy sits inside the biosphere, so it cannot grow forever on a finite planet.
- In rich countries, higher output no longer reliably brings higher well-being.
- Technology and efficiency gains alone will not cut resource use fast enough.
- Wealthy nations should shrink their material footprint and make room for poorer nations to develop.
- Work should be shared and shortened, and basic needs guaranteed for everyone.
- Economic life should be rebuilt around care, sharing and local cooperation.
History
Two threads came together in the early 1970s. One was ecological economics. The Romanian-American economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen applied the laws of thermodynamics to economics in The Entropy Law and the Economic Process (1971), arguing that economic activity always uses up usable energy. The other was the wider environmental debate sparked by the Club of Rome's report The Limits to Growth in 1972. The French thinker André Gorz asked in the same period whether the earth could survive without a drop in output, and Ivan Illich criticized industrial tools that dominate people, proposing 'convivial' alternatives. The French word décroissance became a slogan in the early 2000s. Academic conferences followed in Paris in 2008 and Barcelona in 2010, and degrowth grew into a research field with its own journals.
Variants
Some degrowth writers lean toward eco-socialism and public ownership. Others lean toward anarchist ideas of small, self-governing communities. A third group stays closer to mainstream economics and speaks of a steady-state economy, in which output stays level rather than shrinking. Herman Daly was the best known voice of this last view. There is also a separate debate over 'post-growth' or 'agrowth', which says growth should simply stop being the main goal, whether the numbers go up or down.
Criticisms
Economists who back green growth say that clean technology can separate output from damage, so shrinking is unnecessary. Others warn that pensions, public debt and jobs depend on a growing economy, and that voters will not accept falling incomes. Critics from poorer countries note that a message of limits can sound unfair to people who have not yet reached comfort. Some on the left worry the movement lacks a realistic plan to get there. Degrowth supporters reply that the planet's limits leave no real choice, and that policies like shorter work weeks and universal services could protect jobs and well-being during the shift.
In practice
No national government has adopted degrowth as its official aim. Its ideas show up instead in local projects, such as repair cafes, community land trusts, and car-free neighborhoods, and in debates over a shorter work week and limits on advertising and private jets. On the 12 axes it scores toward Democratic on Authority, Cooperation on Foreign policy and Caution on Technology, with a clear lean toward Shared on Welfare.