Regulation beyond growth

Abstract

De-growth theses point to a renewal of critical thinking able to link intellectual research projects and social movements. This paper provides an overview of some of the strands of arguments that are mobilised to criticise the 'growth obsession', and explains why issues raised by de-growth proponents are at odds with the regulationist research strategy. Both approaches are then critiqued for missing the connection between crisis tendencies and capitalist social property. However, the Gramscian-regulationist inheritance of paying accurate attention to institutional forms in shaping macroeconomic dynamics is still much needed in order to explore transition paths beyond growth.

Planning Beyond Growth the Case for Economic Democracy within Ecological Limits

“…On the other hand, it commits to largely remaining within the boundaries of the current economic system. The supposition that even a radical ecological and social "distributist policy [can] be based on impeccably respectable premises: private property, the free market, opposition to welfare bureaucracies and centralized control" (Daly, 1991, 54), we would argue, disregards the role of capitalist institutions in the systemic drive for expansion (on this, see Cahen-Fourot, 2022;Durand and Légé, 2013;Schmelzer et al, 2022)).…”

“…Another shortcoming is that despite incorporation of class relations in some models, they overlook the social-relations underpinning macroeconomic regularities and, especially the class relations and competitive struggles that sustain the systemic drive toward monetary growth (Cahen-Fourot and Louison, 2022;Durand and Légé, 2013 ). They could thus be overly optimistic about the socio-economic possibilities for shifting towards a postgrowth regime without major alterations of the basic parameters of capitalist economies.…”

When Monopsony Power Wanes

“…This Pyrrhic retreat, an historic slowdown in capital accumulation (growth of gross capital formation), is manifest in declining rates of both production growth (gdp growth) and investment (investment as a percentage of gdp). The present crisis is therefore a single stage in a larger, longer downturn (Durand and Légé 2013).…”

Financialized accumulation, neoliberal hegemony, and the transformation of the Swedish Welfare Model, 1980–2020

“…To reverse these neoliberal trends, labor, and progressive movements in Sweden and internationally must articulate counterhegemonic strategies and present new forms of sustainable accumulation strategies that can contribute to green growth, wealth redistribution, and universal welfare (e.g. Durand & Légé 2013; Neilson 2021). The Swedish finance-led accumulation regime has resulted in an immense accumulation of assets into wealth funds, including the public pension funds (‘AP-fonderna’), with total assets amounting 34% of GDP in 2020 (Figure 7).…”