Kate Raworth

We need to ask ourselves three questions. Growth from what? Is the economy growing because we’re making a huge investment in a transition to renewable energies, like China investing $360 billion by 2020 in solar energy capacity? That’s a great reason for GDP in China’s growth. Or is it growing because we’ve got massive consumer debt spending on mortgages we can’t afford and cars we don’t need? That is not a great reason for GDP growth.

Second, growth for whom? Is GDP growing because the top 1% are reaping the returns as they have been doing in recent years? Or is GDP growing because income is going to people who live below the poverty line, enabling them for the first time to meet life’s essentials?

And thirdly, growth until when? If GDP is growing for good reasons, then at what point will it have reached its optimal size so that we grow into thriving balance like everything in nature does? How much solar energy capacity do we need until we can make the most of what the sunshine offers us? How much should we be investing in, say, expanding schools and investing in teachers so that every kid has a good start in life? In nature, everything grows until it reaches its optimal size. We should ask those same kinds of questions in our economies, too.

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