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SUSTAINABLE DEGROWTH
THROUGH MORE AMATEUR
ECONOMY
Jørgen Stig Nørgård
Technical University of Denmark
DK 2800 Lyngby, Denmark

Second Degrowth Conference, 2010
BARCELONA
26. March to 29 March, 2010

28. March 2010, Sust. Degrowth w Amateur Econ. , Jørgen S. Nørgård, Techn. Univ. of Denmark
Degrowth Conference 2010, Barcelona DK2800 Lyngby, Denmark. jsn@byg.dtu.dk 1

THE WHOLE ECONOMY


GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR, GPI
40000
USA $ (2000) per Capita
35000

30000

25000
GDP

20000

15000
GPI

10000

5000

0
19503
1 5 7 9 1960 15 17 19197023 25 27 29 1980 35 37 39 41 43YEAR 49200053 55
11 13 21 31 33 1990 45 47 51
Talberth, J., Cobb, C. and Slattery, N.; The Genuine Progress Indicator 2006 . w w w .rprogress.org.


GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR, GPI
40000
USA $ (2000) per Capita
35000

30000

25000
GDP
CLIMATE
20000 SAVINGS ?

15000
GPI

10000

5000

0
19503
1 5 7 9 1960 15 17 19 1970 25 27 29 1980 35 37 39199043YEAR 49200053 55
11 13 21 23 31 33 41 45 47 51
Based on: Talberth, J., Cobb, C. and Slattery, N.; The Genuine Progress Indicator 2006 .


INCOME AND HAPPINESS (USA)


A. EINSTEIN:

“Not everything that can be
counted counts,
and,
not everything that counts can
be counted”


HAPPINESS VS GDP/CAP, COUNTRIES

NEF, 2009: The (Un)happy Planet Index 2.0. www.happyplanetindex.org


HAPPY LIFE YEARS vs ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT



HAPPINESS
(ultimate benefits) WHOLE ECONOMY

(UTILITARIAN
ECONOMY,
WELFARE
ECONOMY,

C
ECONOMIC OR ?
ACTIVITIES

NATURE EXPLOIT.
(ultimate cost)


HAPPY PLANET INDEX, HPI
Satisfaction
Whole Economy’s Efficiency = ------------------------------
Nature’s Exploitation

can be approximated with:

Life Satisfaction x Life Expectancy
HPI = -----------------------------------------------------
Ecological Footprint



HAPPY PLANET INDEX, HPI
Life Satisfaction x Life Expectancy
HPI = ---------------------------------------------------
Ecological Footprint
= 76.1 for Costa Rica # 1 in the world
= 65.7 for Cuba # 7
= 58.5 for Bhutan # 17
= 57.1 for China # 20
= 43.2 for Spain # 76
= 35.5 for Denmark # 105
= 34.5 for Russia # 108
= 30.7 for USA # 114
= 16.6 for Zimbabwe # 143



THE ROLE OF WORK


HISTORY OF WORK
Church campaign succeeded slowly.
Holidays reduced dramatically.
During 1800s:
Annual work-time peaked at around 4000
hours.
Late 1800s till late 1900s:
Dramatic decline in annual work-time to 1700
in N.Europe and around 2000 hours in Japan
and USA.

HARD WORK IS A PROTESTANT VIRTUE

© Claus Deleuran, 1982


HARD WORK IS A PROTESTANT VIRTUE
IMPLEMENTED 500 YEARS
AGO TO SAVE
THE ENVIRONMENT ?

NOW POSING A THREAT TO
THE ENVIRONMENT !

© Claus Deleuran, 1982


LIMITS TO GROWTH

Meadows DH, Meadows DL, Randers J and Behrens III WW. (1972) The Limits to Growth, Universe Book, New York


SIMPLE SD- MODEL FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION , 1974
Nørgård, J.S.(1974): ”Technological and Social Measures to Conserve Energy”. Report #DSD 26, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, N.H. USA

Labor Efficiency in Computer Run for Sustainable Development


LABOUR INPUT FACTORS

• Population, POP
• Labor Force Fraction, LFF
• Working Time, WT
• Employment Rate, ER
• Labor Productivity, PROD
Labor Input to Production, LIP, is then:
LIP = POP LFF WT ER PROD

WORK SHARING IN HISTORY


WORK SHARING IN THE USA
During 1800s : Labor Unions organized a
quest for shorter working time.
1920s : Working hours continue to decline
and work sharing was seen as the way to
avoid unemployment and to increase
wages and wellbeing.
1930s : The next step was a 30 hours work
week, and it almost passed congress,
but………..


NEW DEAL DRAMA
President F. D. Roosevelt in 1933:
Proposal to solve unemployment by reducing
work week from 40 to 30 hours.

Almost passed Congress, but by pressure
from industry 30 hours work week was
stopped few days short of passing.
The road not taken, not YET
Instead, 40 hours week have been fixed ever
since and efforts have been concentrated on
work creation rather than work sharing.

THE BIRTH OF CONSUMERISM
The decision in 1933 in USA to abandon
Work Sharing
as the way to avoid unemployment
and instead aim for
Work Creation
can be considered a turning point,
the birth of todays
Consumerism


THE ROLE OF GDP
The newly in 1930s developed Gross
Domestic Product, GDP, seems to have
played a significant role.
Before then the progress was not well
defined, although the reduced work time
was one progress indicator.
With GDP, one clear indicator was
established, although economists warned
about using it to measure progress.


DEGROWTH WITHOUT TEARS


WHOLE ECONOMY
HAPPINESS CAN BE DIVIDED INTO:
(ultimate benefits)

PROFESSIONAL AMATEUR
“GRATIS” ECONOMY ECONOMY
GDP AMATEUR ECON.
(DRIVEN BY LOVE,
AFFECTION, ETC)
and
PROFES. ECONOMY
NATURE EXPLOIT. (DRIVEN BY MONEY)
(ultimate cost)


AMATEUR ECONOMY AND HAPPINESS

Maybe lower
productivity in
output per hour,

BUT:

Higher
productivity in
satisfaction


HAPPINESS
(ultimate benefits) MONEY ECONOMY
HAS TAKEN OVER
MORE AND MORE,
…for good and for bad.
“GRATIS” e,g.
PROFESSIONAL
AMATEUR cooking,
ECONOMY
GDP ECONOMY childcare,
old people care,
health care,
family parties,
gardening,
entertainment
NATURE EXPLOIT.
etc…..
(ultimate cost)


MULTI-TASK AMATEUR ECONOMY

Copyright: Claus Deleuran


He is growing strawberries
He is caring for the child
He is caring for the old

She is entertaining grandad
She is studying nature

He is feeding the birds

Copyrights: Claus Deleuran


He is growing strawberries
He is caring for the old

She is entertaining granddad
She is studying nature

He is feeding the birds

All driven by love…
Copyrights: Claus Deleuran missing “good”GDP !

HAPPINESS DEGROWTH BY
(ultimate benefits)
REVERSING
MONEY
ECONOMY ?
“GRATIS”
PROFESSIONAL TAKE BACK YOUR TIME
ECONOMY AMATEUR
GDP ECONOMY
REGAIN CONTROL

MORE SECURITY

MORE SATISFACTION
NATURE EXPLOIT.
(ultimate cost) etc…..

TOWARDS A RICHER LIFE
“The more we extend the sphere of
activities about which we can say
‘This is not for sale’ or ‘I can’t put
a price on this’, the richer are our
individual and social lives”
André Gorz


LESS WORK OR MORE INCOME 1
PREFERENCE FOR LESS WORK OR MORE INCOME
100
%
More
90
pay,
Same
80 work

70 Don't
know

?
60

50 Same
pay,
40 Less
work
30

20

10

0
1964 1975 1987 2002 Year 2007
1 2 3 4 5
Nørgård, J.S. (2008): ‘Avoiding Rebound through a Steady State Economy’ chapt. 10 in book Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption.. The Rebound
Effect. Palgrave Macmllan UK,.


LESS WORK OR MORE INCOME 2
PREFERENCE FOR LESS WORK OR MORE INCOME
100
%
More
90
pay,
Same
80 work

70 Don't
know
60

50 Same
?
pay,
40 Less
work
30

20

10

0
1964 1975 1987 2002 Year 2007
1 2 3 4 5
Nørgård, J.S. (2008): ‘Avoiding Rebound through a Steady State Economy’ chapt. 10 in book Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption.. The Rebound
Effect. Palgrave Macmllan UK,.

WHY DON’T PEOPLE DO IT ?
• They usually do not have a free choice
• Most of them don’t bother to go into the
hard work in unions
• The surveys are not always clear whether
the question is asking for a collective
reduction.
• Etc.


THE BEST ARGUMENT FOR
WORKING LESS

The present public quest for turning
productivity gains into shorter work time,
as well as the similar trend in 1930s USA,
is NOT based on concerns for
environment. The physical limits to growth
is just one extra argument for working
less, ---- and a very serious one.


DEGROWTH POLICIES ON WORK


GENERAL STRATEGIES
• Increase equity in work and income by tax, etc.
• Re-educate economist
• Teach children sustainable ‘amateur’ activities
•
• Worksharing can be a leverage for degrowth
because the lower consumption is immediately
rewarded with more freedom and joy.


4 REASONS FOR MORE EQUITY
1) MORAL REASON: In a limited world ethics
call for more sharing.

2) POLITICAL REASON: Reducing social unrest
and international conflicts.

3) ECONOMIC REASON: More equal distribution
of wealth increase total satisfaction.

4) ENVIRONMENTAL REASON: Equality tends
to promote saturation.


RE-EDUCATE ECONOMIST
-Learning to use freedom of speech to voice
how meaningless GDP is as a measure of
prosperity.
-Learning to be more interdiciplinary
-Learning how to ‘land’ the economy safely
at a steady state


RE-EDUCATE ECONOMIST
-Learning to use freedom of speech to voice
how meaningless GDP is as a measure of
prosperity.
-Learning to be more interdiciplinary
-Learning how to ‘land’ the economy safely
at a steady state
- not like (other) terrorists, who did not
care to learn how to land the airplanes.

TRANSITION WITHOUT TEARS
OBVIOUSLY, A TRANSITION FROM AN UN-
ECONOMIC GROWTH TO AN ECONOMIC
DEGROWTH NEED NOT BE A PAINFUL
PROCESS - EXCEPT FOR SOME
CONVENTIONAL GROWTH ECONOMISTS.

(and it is probably cheaper to provide emergency help to
the depressed economists than to a whole depressed
economy !)


A Limerick Sigh

TECHNIQUE, PROFIT, ETHIC



In the affluent OECDe’den,
Life could be like in Garden of Eden.
But with ‘Apple’s of Eve,
we in numbers believe,
so the joy and the ethics is eaten.
Jorgen S. Norgard, 2008


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2010 Norgard Amateur Econ Barcelona

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