Beyond poverty and affluence : towards a Canadian economy of care

Beyond Poverty and Affluencece argues that, like a virus that has developed an immunity to the cure, poverty, environmental degeneration, and unemployment successfully resist the remedy of growth in industrial production. Bob Goudzwaard and Harry de Lange maintain that over the last several decades the solutions attempted by industrialized nations either have not helped or have dramatically exacerbated these problems, which have become structural features of contemporary economies. The authors propose as an alternative an 'economics of care' and offer a twelve-step program for economic recovery in Canada. Goudzwaard and de Lange contend that poverty, environmental damage, and unemployment have a common origin -namely, structural flaws in classical and contemporary neoclassical economic thought, including that of Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Drawing on the ideas of thinkers as diverse as Rene Girard and Hannah Arendt, on numerous Canadian sources, and on their own Christian tradition, the authors propose a 'pre-care' economy, which places 'care' needs first and only then addresses the scope of production, in contrast to a 'post-care' economy, which pursues maximum consumption and production. The authors also describe in detail the structural changes that the Canadian economy would have to undergo in order to become a pre-care economy. The authors' proposals deal with such issues as international currency creation, the environment, labour/management relations, the funding of social programs, the scope of production and technological development, the structure of economic decision-making, and the dropping of trade barriers in North America and Europe. BOB GOUDZWAARD, a former member of the Dutch parliament, is © www.utppublishing.com Foreword ix Working Committee on Church and Society of the World Council of Churches. This book, Beyond Poverty and Affluence, is the long-overdue English translation and North American adaptation of the third edition of the authors' work, the first edition of which appeared in 1986. The third edition was also translated and published in German. It was translated into English and edited into two editions, with this one primarily for a Canadian audience, by my esteemed friend Mark Vander Vennen. I commend both of these editions to English-language readers everywhere.

Beyond Poverty and Affluence argues that, like a virus which has developed an immunity to the cure, the problems of poverty, environmental degeneration, and unemployment today successfully resist the remedy of growth in industrial production. Bob Goudzwaard and Harry de Lange demonstrate that over the last several decades the solutions used by industrialized nations either have not helped or have dramatically exacerbated these problems. Instead, these predicaments have become structural features of today's economic practice. The authors formulate an alternative, which they call the economics of care, and propose a twelve-step program for economic recovery in Canada.

Goudzwaard and de Lange contend that poverty, environmental damage, and unemployment have a common origin: they emerge from structural flaws in classical and contemporary neoclassical economic thought, including that of Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Drawing on thinkers as diverse as RenT Girard and Hannah Arendt, on numerous Canadian sources, and on their own Christian tradition, the authors propose a `pre-care' economy, which places care needs first on its list of priorities and only then addresses the scope of production, rather than a 'post-care' economy, which pursues maximum consumption and production above all else. They also describe in detail structural changes the Canadian economy will need to undergo to become an economy of pre-care. Included in their discussion is an assessment of the progress of `sustainable development' in Canada, including the work of the federal and provincial roundtables on environment and economy, and a proposed framework for setting Canadian government finances on a durable foundation.

The twelve economic proposals the authors put forward deal with such issues as international currency creation, the environment, the foundation of labour/management relations, the funding of social programs, wage and salary development, the scope of production and technological development, the structure of economic decision-making, the direction of government funding, and the dropping of trade barriers in North America and Europe.

"Beyond Poverty and Affluence makes an urgent appeal for a bold new economic practice. In the face of distressing societal realities - poverty, pollution and environmental degradation, ongoing losses in both the quantity and the quality of workeminent Dutch economists Bob Goudzwaard and Harry de Lange argue that the foundations of our local, national, and international economic order need renewal, and they provide a provocative twelve-step program for economic recovery based on an "economy of care" for the earth and its people."--Résumé de l'éditeur Contents 5 FOREWORD 7 PREFACE 11 Introduction 15 Part One. Why Economic Renewal? 25 1. Poverty, Environmental Degradation, and Unemployment 25 Part Two. Finding a Solution 59 2. Risky Calculations 59 3. Reclaiming People and Their Needs 80 4. Renewing the Economic Order 94 5. Revitalizing Our Outmoded Economic Order 109 6. Sustainable Development 121 7. 'But That's Impossible 127 Part Three. A Program for Recovery 141 8. A Twelve-Step Program for Economic Recovery 141 NOTES 167 INDEX 183