How do we combat poverty and rising inequality? In our age of impending climate catastrophe, the conventional wisdom around GDP and economic growth is no longer fit for purpose; a rising tide sinks all boats.
Oliver De Schutter argues that we must rethink the fight against poverty. The quest for economic growth not only clashes with the need to remain within planetary boundaries but creates the social exclusion it intends to cure: deteriorating human rights, widening the gap between the richest and the poorest, and merely modernizing poverty without eliminating it. The Poverty of Growth calls for social movements, trade unions, and environmental NGOs to forge a new pathway towards a 'post-growth' development and a narrative of progress no longer orientated around wealth and profit.