The Growth Illusion: How Economic Growth Has Enriched the Few, Impoverished the Many and Endangered the Planet, by Richard Douthwaite

Green Books, 1999. ISBN: 9781870098762. Paperback. Good condition.

Revised and updated edition

In 1992, when the first edition of “The Growth Illusion” appeared, most people had little doubt that the answer was ‘Yes’. Today, however, the climate of opinion has changed and there is widespread acceptance that, while growth might be necessary to generate jobs, the development path we are following isn’t making life better for ourselves or our children.

This updated and revised edition of “The Growth Illusion” explains what has gone wrong. Douthwaite argues that since the 1950s, governments around the world have made economic growth their primary focus in the belief that by baking the biggest national cake, they are creating the resources needed to fulfill their political goals. Recent research in the USA, Britain, Germany and Australia shows that this ‘growth first, goals later’ strategy isn’t working and that in the past fifteen years the growth process has actually destroyed more resources than it has created on a sustainable basis. As these economies run backwards, their citizens become worse off.

The Growth Illusion explores this phenomenon, asking fundamental questions about economics and the society in which we live.  Informal, highly readable and even darkly humorous, the book is filled with interesting stories and information.

Libro en inglés