Post-growth

For other uses, see Zero growth.

Thinksome (talk) 20:15, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

Post-growth is an umbrella term that refers to a broad family of economic, ecological, and political perspectives responding to the limits-to-growth dilemma —the recognition that infinite economic growth is biophysically unsustainable on a finite planet. Central to post-growth thinking is the emphasis on decoupling societal well-being from economic growth, advocating for the possibility of prosperity beyond growth .

Rather than promoting a single economic model, post-growth thinking encompasses a plurality of frameworks that critique the dominant growth paradigm and envision alternative ways to organize economies around human and ecological flourishing. Notable strands include degrowth, which calls for planned downscaling of energy and material use; doughnut economics, which frames development within ecological ceilings and social foundations; commons-based economics, steady state economics, participatory economics, eco-feminism, and post-development theory, among others. In Latin America, Indigenous concepts such as Buen Vivir provide culturally grounded alternatives to growth-oriented development.

These approaches differ in emphasis and strategies, but share a systemic orientation. They understand economies as embedded within ecological and social systems, and address the limits-to-growth dilemma from a complex systems perspective. This involves recognizing the interdependence of psychological, cultural, institutional, and biophysical dimensions, integrating interdisciplinary perspectives. Rather than proposing a one-size-fits-all model, post-growth frameworks advocate for context-specific transformations that are sensitive to local histories, resources, and values. As a result, post-growth initiatives emerge in diverse forms depending on place and circumstance, reflecting a plural and adaptive approach to economic and societal organization.

Post-growth can be considered an asset-based approach to community development — applied not only to community development but across a wide range of categories — in response to limits-to-growth challenges, as it seeks to identify and build on cultural and technological assets to facilitate the emergence of post-growth futures. In his landmark work Prosperity Without Growth (Routledge, 2017), the economist Tim Jackson demonstrates that building a ‘post-growth’ economy is indeed a "precise, definable and meaningful task". Starting from clear first principles, he sets out the dimensions of that task: the nature of enterprise; the quality of our working lives; the structure of investment; and the role of the money supply.

The term "post-growth" acknowledges that economic growth can generate beneficial effects up to a point, but beyond that point (cited as $25,000 GDP/capita by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in their book The Spirit Level) it is necessary to look for other indicators and techniques to increase human wellbeing.

Foundational Values

Although the post-growth field encompasses a wide range of approaches, its literature reveals a shared set of normative values that underpin its critique of growth-centered economies and guide proposals for alternative futures. These values are not drawn from a single manifesto or unified doctrine, but rather emerge across different strands of thought committed to organizing economic life around human well-being and ecological integrity:

• Ecological Limits: Post-growth frameworks begin with the premise that infinite economic expansion is not compatible with the Earth’s biophysical boundaries. Concepts such as planetary boundaries articulate ecological thresholds that must not be exceeded to maintain Earth system stability. Post-growth thinkers also challenge the assumption of absolute decoupling, the idea that economic growth can continue while reducing environmental impacts, as largely unsupported by evidence.

• Social and Intergenerational Justice: Post-growth approaches emphasize the need to address global inequality, climate injustice, and the distribution of resources within and between generations. This includes calls for redistribution, reparations, and ensuring a dignified life for all, rather than privileging growth for the few.

• Sufficiency and Care: Rather than pursuing accumulation, post-growth emphasizes meeting human needs through sufficiency, providing “enough” for all. Economies rooted in care, cooperation, and interdependence prioritize well-being, social support, and non-market forms of labor over profit-maximization and competition.

• Resilience and Localism: Post-growth promotes local economies that are less dependent on global supply chains and more resilient to ecological and economic shocks. Local production, community governance, and regional autonomy are seen as key strategies for building sustainable and adaptable societies.

• Democratic Participation and Institutional Transformation: Post-growth movements call for the democratization of economic systems, advocating for participatory governance, collective decision-making, and institutional innovation. The emphasis is on transforming how economies are organized, not only what is produced, but who decides and for what purpose.

• Plurality of Knowledge Systems: Post-growth critiques the Eurocentric and universalist assumptions of conventional development models. In their place, it uplifts Indigenous, feminist, and local knowledge systems, supporting a pluriverse of worldviews and development paths rooted in cultural diversity and relational ontologies.

Post-growth initiatives

A main concept present in the post-growth movement is that there is not one post-growth future, but a diverse range of post-growth futures that can unfold simultaneously.

Just as there are many ways of living now in a growth-oriented society, a multitude of post growth futures are possible and many ways of living post growth already exist today. What these futures hold in common is a desire to separate good growth from bad, and to develop human potential and happiness within, and in relation to, a physically finite earth. A post growth economy puts life and everything needed to maintain it at the center of economic and social activity as opposed to the never-ending accumulation of money, and the pursuit of growth of all kinds without regard for its consequences.

— Post Growth Institute, their website

There is an increasing number of post-growth-oriented initiatives that are emerging in order to create prosperity in locally resilient, self-sufficient ways. Often these initiatives have come about as a response to sustainability issues. One example of a post-growth initiative is the Transition Movement, which seeks to create local resiliency in the context of peak oil and climate change (Transition Network). Voluntary simplicity (also known as simple living) and downshifting are also growing trends that can be considered post-growth. Tiny homes, ecovillages, and Quakers are good examples of how voluntary simplicity can be put into practice (see the Testimony of Simplicity). Post-growth ideas and actions are gaining international attention in the mainstream media, as The Guardian and Treehugger both featured articles about the post-growth movement in 2012.

Free Money Day is an annual, global post-growth event, in which people give away money to strangers as a way of sparking dialogues and critical thinking about money, peoples' relationships with money, and the value of economics based on sharing.

In 2012, the Post Growth Institute released the (En)Rich List, a parody of the Forbes List of Billionaires that aimed to highlight influential post-growth thinkers “whose collective contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures”.

Cosmopolitan localism or cosmolocalism has been proposed as a structural framework for post-growth technology. It organises production by prioritising socio-ecological well-being over corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption.

German post-growth theory

The German economist Niko Paech analysed current problems and possible solutions in his publications since 2005.

Paech sketches four reasons for and five steps to implement his theory.

Reasons:

1. there is no empirical or theoretical reason to disconnect economical growth via markets and money from mankind exterminating risks caused by ecological destruction such as the climate crisis
2. after achieving a certain level of income there is no further improvement of happiness achieving more monetary income
3. the "imperative logic of growth", decreasing hunger, poverty(trend of global improvement interrupted in 2020) and economical inequality by further economical growth is ambivalent
4. economical growth has economical limits like "peak oil". High demand for certain resources limits production capabilities. Highest demands in nations like China or India increases costs for resources that have been essential for growth so far

Implementation :

1. decluttering and deceleration: it is pure economical logic to get rid of unnecessary goods and gadgets, claiming time, money, space and ecological resources providing little use. Individuals and society shall be liberated from unnecessary "goods"
2. balance out self and external supply. Dependence on external growth based economy supplies is at risk since interdependencies cause fragility (e.g.European dependence on Russian petrol/gas till the Russian invasion of Ukraine, global dependence on Ukrainian grain). The longer the supply chains are the more fragile and less resilient they are in crisis. Stability is given by short distances between Production and consumption. There is a need for reactivation of basic skills such as gardening and repair satisfying basic needs without using monetary based, international dependent markets. Restructuring self- and foreign provided support should reduce money and growth dependency. Subsistence, community gardening, exchange rings, common use of land and tools are practical approaches for de-globalisation.
3. regional economics would decrease risks such as climate change(or the impact of global events like the Ukraine war on energy prices) since there is less need for individual mobility and transportation of goods. It should be supported by regional currencies keeping purchasing power in the region while using the advantages of monetary based economies, avoiding the risks of monetary integration in global markets. Concepts like Community supported agriculture allow the consumers participation in the production and distribution of supplies while sharing the risks of farming while creating more biological awareness, making consumers prosumers.
4. Goods that can not be avoided, such as high-technology like medical equipment, computers and agricultural tools and vehicles shall be limited in production, shared, repaired and used as long and intensive as possible making overproduction and scrapping unnecessary.
5. Institutional innovations: soil and monetary reforms, implementing local currencies equipped with interest free circulation safety. Environmental exposure limited by universal usage rights for each prosumer oriented on the planets capabilities to deal with pollution and carbon dioxide (Paech estimates 2-3 tonnes of CO₂/capita).

Related organizations

There are many organizations worldwide that are dealing explicitly with ideas about how to move beyond the growth-centered paradigm. These include: the Post Growth Institute; the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy; the Center for a New American Dream; Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), the Postgrowth Economics Network, Post Growth Guide, the Danish Degrowth Network; Degrowth Vancouver; the Donella Meadows Institute; Feasta: The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, Growthbusters; Gund Institute for Ecological Economics; the Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economy and Society; the International Society for Ecological Economics; Mouvement Quebecois pour une Decroissance Conviviale; New Economics Foundation; New Economics Institute; the Population Institute; Population Media Center; the Post Carbon Institute; Research and Degrowth; the Simplicity Institute; the Transition Culture (Transition Towns); the P2P Foundation; The Zeitgeist Movement; and Via Campesina.

See also

• Agrowth
• Club of Rome
• Deep ecology
• Degrowth
• Ecological economics
• Genuine progress indicator
• Happiness economics
• Humanistic economics
• The Limits to Growth
• Participatory economics
• Political ecology
• Post-consumerism
• Power Down: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World
• Prosperity Without Growth
• Slow Movement
• Steady-state economy
• The Path to Degrowth in Overdeveloped Countries
• Tim Jackson (economist)
• Traditional trades
• Uneconomic growth
• Universal Basic Income