Prospérité sans Croissance - de Tim Jackson

Paola Rise

Description

Le livre de Tim Jackson, encensé par la critique, vise à concilier le besoin humain de bien-être avec le caractère limité des ressources environnementales, en mettant en cause la croissance effrénée et la logique consumériste. Notre modèle économique est fondé sur un impératif de croissance, mais les effets positifs de cet impératif sont douteux et l’économie ne réussit pas à répondre aux problèmes environnementaux. Un nouveau modèle économique est présenté, inspiré de l’économie keynésienne et écologique, et des mesures politiques sont proposées pour réduire la surconsommation et restaurer le bien-être au niveau local.
L'auteure est diplômée d'HEC, Majeure Alternative Management, en 2011.

Sujets

• Changement
• Environnement
• Prospérité
• Durability
• Découplage
• Consumérisme

Informations

• Publié par: bde
• Nombre de lectures: 140
• Licence : En savoir +
  Paternité, pas d'utilisation commerciale
• Langue: Français

Extrait

Observatoire du Management Alternatif
Alternative Management Observatory
__

Fiche de lecture


Prosperity without Growth
Economics for a Finite Planet
Tim Jackson
2009




Csilla Nárai – Février 2011
Majeure Alternative Management – HEC Paris – 2010-2011


F Narai C. – Fiche de lecture : « Prosperity without Growth » – Février 2011 1Prospérité sans croissance –
La transition vers une économie durable

Cette fiche a été réalisée dans le cadre du cours « Grands défis planétaires » donné par
Denis Bourgeois, David Khoudour-Castéras et Thanh Nghiem au sein de la Majeure
èmeAlternative Management, spécialité de 3 année du programme Grande Ecole d’HEC Paris.

Earthscan, London, 2010
Première date de parution de l’ouvrage : 2009

Résumé : Le livre de Tim Jackson, encensé par la critique, vise à concilier le besoin humain
de bien-être avec le caractère limité des ressources environnementales, en mettant en cause la
croissance effrénée et la logique consumériste. Notre modèle économique est fondé sur un
impératif de croissance, mais les effets positifs de cet impératif sont douteux et l’économie ne
réussit pas à répondre aux problèmes environnementaux. Un nouveau modèle économique est
présenté, inspiré de l’économie keynésienne et écologique, et des mesures politiques sont
proposées pour réduire la surconsommation et restaurer le bien-être au niveau local.

Mots-clés : Prospérité, Durable, Découplage, Consumérisme


Prosperity without Growth – Economics for a Finite Planet

This review was presented in the « Global challenges » course of Denis Bourgeois, David
Khoudour-Castéras and Thanh Nghiem. This course is part of the Alternative Management
specialization of the third-year HEC Paris business school program.

Published by: Earthscan, London, 2010
Date of first publication: 2009

Abstract: Tim Jackson’s book, praised by the critiques, aims to reconcile our need for
prosperity with urging ecological limits by questioning the pressure of growing faster and
consuming more. It shows that although our economies are built on the growth imperative, its
positive marginal effects on well-being are questionable and technological progress fails to
respond to urging ecological problems.The book offers a new macro-economical approach,
inspired by Keynes and ecological economics, and to reshape the consumerist social logic by
a wide range of policy measures, in order to strengthen communities’ capability to flourish
and individual possibilities to participate meaningfully in society.

Key words: Prosperity, Sustainability, Decoupling, Consumerism


Charte Ethique de l'Observatoire du Management Alternatif
Les documents de l'Observatoire du Management Alternatif sont publiés sous licence Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/fr/ pour promouvoir l'égalité de partage des ressources intellectuelles
et le libre accès aux connaissances. L'exactitude, la fiabilité et la validité des renseignements ou opinions
diffusés par l'Observatoire du Management Alternatif relèvent de la responsabilité exclusive de leurs auteurs.
F Narai C. – Fiche de lecture : « Prosperity without Growth » – Février 2011 2Table of Contents
1. The author and his work ..................................................................................................... 4
1.1. A short biography ....................................................................................................... 4
1.2. Best-seller of sustainability ........................................................................................ 4
2. Summary ............................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Overview .................................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Argumentation and main conclusions ........................................................................ 7
3. Commentary ....................................................................................................................... 13
3.1 The reception of the book ......................................................................................... 13
3.2 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................ 14
4. Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 16
5. References ........................................................................................................................... 17
F Narai C. – Fiche de lecture : « Prosperity without Growth » – Février 2011 31. The author and his work
1.1. A short biography
Tim Jackson has been a remarkable figure of sustainability research for over twenty years.
Having worked on the first Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare for the United Kingdom
(UK) and other measures of sustainable well-being in the late nineties, he became Professor
of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey in 2000, where in 2006 he also
founded the inter-disciplinary Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment
(RESOLVE) with the aim of providing evidence-based advice to policy makers on people’s
lifestyle and energy-related habits. While still working with the university, Jackson was
appointed to Economic Commissioner to the UK Sustainable Development Commission in
2004. In this position he made a major contribution to the 2005 UK Sustainable Development
Strategy and the current Redefining Prosperity program – the report from which this book was
also born.

1.2. Best-seller of sustainability
Prosperity without Growth is probably one of 2010’s most widely read books about
sustainable economic development, recommended by twenty six leading professors, experts
and authors of several countries on its inner cover, including Herman E. Daly and Anthony
Giddens. Giving a wide-angle overview of the most pressing setbacks of economic growth
(elevated consumer needs, overpopulation, social inequalities, and ecological erosion), basic
human values, consumption patterns, major political incentives and the response given by
mainstream economics, he makes policy recommendations on how to shift to a system of
slower, but more sustainable growth that would enable prosperity for much more people.
The two hundred pages long work is the revised version of a 2009 report for the UK
government advisory Sustainable Development Committee that created a large debate around
no-growth theories as well as the viability of some of the proposed policy measures.
Jackson’s analysis is a comprehensible translation of modern (mainstream and non-
mainstream) economics, national accounts statistics and development policies, seasoned with
consumption theory and a little bit of history, put in a highly political context. Although it
F Narai C. – Fiche de lecture : « Prosperity without Growth » – Février 2011 4stands on a stable and coherent logic acceptable for economists, it is clearly addressed to a
broader public and most of Jackson’s conclusions are based on his individual judgment.
F Narai C. – Fiche de lecture : « Prosperity without Growth » – Février 2011 52. Summary
2.1 Overview
Prosperity Lost
Prosperity as growth; the question of limits; beyond the limits
The Age of irresponsibility
In search of villains; the labyrinth of debt; the enemy within; Ecological debt
Redefining prosperity
Prosperity as opulence; Prosperity as utility; Prosperity as capabilities for flourishing;
Bounded capabilities
The Dilemma of Growth
Material opulence as a condition of flourishing; Income and basic entitlements;
Income growth and economic stability
The Myth of Decoupling
Relative decoupling; absolute decoupling; the arithmetic of growth; Stark choices
The ‘Iron Cage’ of Consumerism
Structures of capitalism; Social logic; Novelty and anxiety
Keynesianism and the ‘Green New Deal’
Options for kick-starting growth; Green New Deal; Strategies for job creation; The
potential for ‘green’ recovery; Funding recovery; Beyond recovery
Ecological macro-economics
Macro-economic basics; Changing the ‘Engine of Growth’; Sharing the work;
Ecological Investment; Foundations for an ecological macro-economics
Flourishing within limits
A life without shame; Alternative hedonism; the role of structural change
Governance for Prosperity
The role of government; Selfishness and altruism; Varieties of capitalism; the
conflicted state
The Transition to a Sustainable Economy
Establishing the limits (Resource and emission caps - and reduction targets; Fiscal
reform for sustainability; Suppor