2010 Norgard Amateur Econ Barcelona

28. March 2010, Sust. Degrowth w Amateur Econ. ,

Degrowth Conference 2010, Barcelona

Jørgen S. Nørgård, Techn. Univ. of Denmark

DK2800 Lyngby, Denmark. [email protected] 1

Jørgen Stig Nørgård

Technical University of Denmark

DK 2800 Lyngby, Denmark

Second Degrowth Conference, 2010

BARCELONA

26. March to 29 March, 2010

SUSTAINABLE DEGROWTH

THROUGH MORE AMATEUR

ECONOMY





THE WHOLE ECONOMY





GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR, GPI

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55

GPI

GDP

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 YEAR 2000

Talberth, J., Cobb, C. and Slattery, N.; The Genuine Progress Indicator 2006 . w w w .rprogress.org.

USA $ (2000) per Capita





GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR, GPI

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55

GPI

GDP

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 YEAR 2000

Based on: Talberth, J., Cobb, C. and Slattery, N.; The Genuine Progress Indicator 2006 .

USA $ (2000) per Capita

CLIMATE

SAVINGS ?





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

http://www.happy/





HAPPY LIFE YEARS vs ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT


http://www.happy/





CECONOMIC

ACTIVITIES

HAPPINESS

(ultimate benefits)

NATURE EXPLOIT.

(ultimate cost)

WHOLE ECONOMY

(UTILITARIAN

ECONOMY,

WELFARE

ECONOMY,

OR ?





HAPPY PLANET INDEX, HPI

SatisfactionWhole Economy’s Efficiency = ------------------------------

Nature’s Exploitation

can be approximated with:

Life Satisfaction x Life ExpectancyHPI = -----------------------------------------------------

Ecological Footprint


http://www.happy/





HAPPY PLANET INDEX, HPI

Life Satisfaction x Life ExpectancyHPI = ---------------------------------------------------

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


http://www.happy/





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

© Claus Deleuran, 1982

IMPLEMENTED 500 YEARS

AGO TO SAVE

THE ENVIRONMENT ?

NOW POSING A THREAT TO

THE ENVIRONMENT !





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 , 1974Nørgård, 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





PROFESSIONAL

ECONOMYGDP

HAPPINESS

(ultimate benefits)

NATURE EXPLOIT.

(ultimate cost)

AMATEUR

ECONOMY“GRATIS”

WHOLE ECONOMYCAN BE DIVIDED INTO:

AMATEUR ECON.(DRIVEN BY LOVE,

AFFECTION, ETC)

and

PROFES. ECONOMY(DRIVEN BY MONEY)





AMATEUR ECONOMY AND HAPPINESS

Maybe lower

productivity in

output per hour,

BUT:

Higher

productivity in

satisfaction





PROFESSIONAL

ECONOMYGDP

HAPPINESS

(ultimate benefits)

NATURE EXPLOIT.

(ultimate cost)

AMATEUR

ECONOMY

“GRATIS”

MONEY ECONOMY

HAS TAKEN OVERMORE AND MORE,

…for good and for bad.

e,g.

cooking,

childcare,

old people care,

health care,

family parties,

gardening,

entertainmentetc…..





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…

missing “good”GDP !


Copyrights: Claus Deleuran





PROFESSIONAL

ECONOMYGDP

HAPPINESS

(ultimate benefits)

NATURE EXPLOIT.

(ultimate cost)

AMATEUR

ECONOMY

“GRATIS”

DEGROWTH BY

REVERSING

MONEY

ECONOMY ?

TAKE BACK YOUR TIME

REGAIN CONTROL

MORE SECURITY

MORE SATISFACTION

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

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5

More

pay,

Same

work

Don't

know

Same

pay,

Less

work

1964 1975 1987 2002 Year 2007

PREFERENCE FOR LESS WORK OR MORE INCOME

%

?

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

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5

More

pay,

Same

work

Don't

know

Same

pay,

Less

work

1964 1975 1987 2002 Year 2007

PREFERENCE FOR LESS WORK OR MORE INCOME

%

?

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 !)





TECHNIQUE, PROFIT, ETHIC



A Limerick Sigh

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

2010 Norgard Amateur Econ Barcelona

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