The financial crisis has been crunching our economies.
Plummeting exports, job losses, falling investment, home
foreclosures and skyrocketing deficits (and public debt) are but
a few of the most widely reported disastrous effects of the
current downturn. Yet, although media attention is all focused
on the treacherous road to recovery, the financial rollercoaster
seems to have triggered an important global debate questioning
the sustainability of the current economic system based on
infinite economic growth. Such a critique is not only based on
the inherent instability of market-based dynamics, but also on
the more long-term impact that these processes exert on the
planet’s limited natural resources and societal wellbeing at
large. Does our quality of life improve when our economy grows
by 2 or 3%? Can we sacrifice our ecosystems to safeguard an
economic framework marred by internal inconsistencies and
imbalances? GDP as a ‘problem’ For the first time since it was
invented in the 1940s, the so-called gross dom