Avoid growth dependencies: Emerging research

👉🏽 This story is developed as part of the Doughnut Economics for Policymakers guide.

No country currently operates within the Doughnut of social and ecological boundaries, and the global economy — along with many national economies — is financially, politically and socially addicted to GDP growth.

But such growth dependency is not inevitable. It is a product of political, financial, and social constructs that emerged over the last century and can be redesigned. No one holds all the answers, and more research and policy experiments are needed. Ultimately, you don't have to chart the exit routes alone.

A pioneering network of researchers has been mapping pathways out of the growth trap. Some examples include: 

• The Centre for Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity conducts research and publishes policy recommendations to move beyond growth dependencies, including a sector-led framework for identifying, analysing and transforming growth dependencies.
• Post Growth Economics Network  collates reading materials and publishes working papers  that explore growth dependencies. 
• Positive Money examines how our monetary system is designed to require endless expansion. Their research explores how reforming the monetary system could reduce growth dependencies.
• Triodos focuses on financial plumbing, investigating how to redesign banking and finance systems that can help reduce growth dependencies, including the role of public finance and policies. 
• Researchers at the University of Leeds, collaborating with the Doughnut Economics Action Lab and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, put forward policy proposals to move away from growth dependencies in the UK. 
• Leading post-growth economists summarise policy proposals that can help transition away from growth dependencies.

If you know of other research that explicitly tackles growth dependencies, please get in touch so we can keep this list growing.