Agreed. They still have work to do, but Switzerland would be a nice baseline to start from. A lot of the degrowth argument hinges on putting well-being before growth, and those Northern European countries are already further along that path than others (like the US where I am).
Surely GDP should be reduced by any increased national debts? At the moment an increase in debts (including government, corporate and personal) increases GDP, which is obviously distortionary for any assessment of a society's economic reality.
It's interesting that in the Degrowth Master's program, folks from/based in Switzerland and Germany tend to show a lot of aggravation at those countries. I think they'd agree the quality of life for most citizens (especially white citizens) is pretty good, but by many degrowth metrics, they fail: at biophysical overshoot, colonial expropriation, supporting global neoliberalism, etc.
Agreed. They still have work to do, but Switzerland would be a nice baseline to start from. A lot of the degrowth argument hinges on putting well-being before growth, and those Northern European countries are already further along that path than others (like the US where I am).
Surely GDP should be reduced by any increased national debts? At the moment an increase in debts (including government, corporate and personal) increases GDP, which is obviously distortionary for any assessment of a society's economic reality.
I’m always happy to see GDP as a measure diluted!
It's interesting that in the Degrowth Master's program, folks from/based in Switzerland and Germany tend to show a lot of aggravation at those countries. I think they'd agree the quality of life for most citizens (especially white citizens) is pretty good, but by many degrowth metrics, they fail: at biophysical overshoot, colonial expropriation, supporting global neoliberalism, etc.