An "Alternatives to Growth" Foot in the Labor Door

The AFL-CIO is promoting Exiting from the crisis: towards a model of more equitable and sustainable growth, a report published by the European Trade Union Institute. One chapter, "Green growth and the need for a paradigm shift: challenges for achieving social justice in a resource-limited world," by Anabella Rosemberg and Lora Verheecke, acknowledges the debate over "green growth" versus "prosperity without growth" and tentatively admits the relevance of the latter, at least in the OECD countries. Contributors to the report also include Joseph Stiglitz and the chief economists of the Canadian Labour Congress (Andrew Jackson) and the AFL-CIO (Ron Blackwell).

The report is not a manifesto for degrowth or the steady-state economy (I am myself ambivalent on "anti-growth" rhetoric) but it contains a frank acknowledgement of the salience of the issues raised by the critics of growth.