Wednesday

7th Jun 2023

A credible future beyond growth has to be feminist

Half of the world's work is unpaid, and women carry out most of it. According to estimates, activities like cooking, cleaning, collecting food or caring for children and the elderly may be valued at up to 60 percent of GDP.

It's Growth Week

From a human point of view GDP is not a great measure. Yet it's been the economic dogma for decades now. But what should we use then? This is what we'll be exploring (among other things) in Growth Week.

Opinion

What even is economic resilience — and does it matter?

GDP is an unreliable indicator of economies' capacity to thrive in times of change. And the over-reliance on GDP won't get our economies on track to meet environmental and social goals when crises hit.

Latest News

  1. Israeli settlers encircling Jerusalem, EU envoys warn
  2. No clear 'Qatargate effect' — but only half voters aware of EU election
  3. Part of EU middle class 'being squeezed out', MEP warns
  4. Migration commissioner: Greek pushback film 'clear deportation'
  5. In 2024, Europe's voters need to pick a better crop of MEPs
  6. ECB president grilled over €135bn interest payout to commercial banks
  7. EU political ads rules could be 'hotbed for retaliatory flagging'
  8. Final steps for EU's due diligence on supply chains law

Interview

Matthias Schmelzer: 'Changing to an electric car isn't enough'

EUobserver sat down with the economist and historian Matthias Schmelzer to talk about his recent work on degrowth, why growth is such a powerful paradigm, and how to imagine a world not based on ever-increasing consumption and waste.

Analysis

How does a 32-hour working week sound?

Four-day workweek pilots are springing up everywhere — do they work? And for whom? Is it possible to scale up these models in an EU that is primarily committed to growth?

Letter

An open manifesto for a post-growth EU

We, the undersigned academics and civil society organisations, see the geopolitical crisis as an opportunity to disengage from the socially and ecologically harmful growth competition and instead embrace a wellbeing cooperation.

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Opinion

The geopolitics of a post-growth EU

An EU that renounces the economic growth dogma could more easily reduce its dependence on energy and materials from Russia and China, thus gaining resilience. Reducing its security dependence on the US, however, is a tougher nut to crack.