Growth, degrowth, and poverty reduction
(2025) The Routledge Handbook on Degrowth — ISBN: [ISBN 9781032645247], p. chapter 26, published
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- Abstract
- It is routinely argued that degrowth scenarios, while they may be good for the planet, will make it impossible to combat poverty. Growth, indeed, would be indispensable both for jobs creation and to allow the financing of public services and social protection. This chapter in the Routledge Handbook on Degrowth questions these claims. It argues that the pursuit of growth may, in fact, become counterproductive, creating the very problems – increasing inequalities and social exclusion – that it was meant to address. Another approach towards poverty reduction is both feasible and desirable: one that prioritises pre-market measures and an inclusive economy, rather than only post-market redistribution, and one that dedicates the scarce resources available to the realisation of economic and social rights and the satisfaction of basic needs, rather than to increasing wealth for the benefit of the few.
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Citations
De Schutter, O. (2025). Growth, degrowth, and poverty reduction. In Anitra Nelson and Vincent Liegey (eds) (ed.), The Routledge Handbook on Degrowth (1st edition, p. p. chapter 26). Routledge.