TITLE:
A Note: De-Growth Debate and New Scientific Analysis of Economic Growth
AUTHORS:
Jari Kaivo-oja, Jarmo Vehmas, Jyrki Luukkanen
KEYWORDS:
De-Growth, De-Linking, Re-Linking, Sustainable Development, Economic Growth
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.15,
November
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: This article is a theoretical note on de-growth debate. The article
includes an analysis of economic growth and alternative growth paths. The
article is focused on the concepts of de-linking, re-linking and de-growth. We
connected linking analysis (de-linking and re-linking) analytically to the
de-growth debate. On the basis of our framework, special cases of de-growth in
the linking process relate to strong re-linking, weak re-linking and recessive
de-linking. This kind of theoretical approach helps us to define the special
nature of de-growth. Key finding of us is that only the de-growth case of
recessive de-linking meets the condition of environmental sustainability.
However, this case does not fulfil the criteria of sustainable development
defined in the WCSD context. In the linking process, the WCSD conditions of
sustainable development are met in the strong de-linking process only. In our
analytical framework, the theoretical concepts of de-growth and sustainable
development seem to conflict by definition.