Visions and Strategies for a Sustainable Economy : Theoretical and Policy Alternatives

The multidisciplinary edited book Visions and Strategies for a Sustainable Economy: Theoretical and Policy Alternatives provides a thorough examination at the theoretical and, especially, policy levels of a number of key topics related to a sustainable economy and a better society. With important contributions by distinguished academics, the book presents alternative views, provides an assessment of contemporary realities in an era of ecological emergency, and offers visions, strategies, and realistic policies towards a better economy and society while paying special attention to a "green new deal" for different areas. Nikolaos Karagiannis is Full Professor of Economics at Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina (USA); invited visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge (UK); and the co-editor of American Review of Political Economy. He has published extensively in the areas of economic development, public sector economics, and macroeconomic policy analysis. Karagiannis is particularly interested in developmental state theory and policy. He is the author, co-author, and co-editor of 22 books and has published over 160 papers as refereed journal articles, book chapters, and op-eds. John E. King is Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University and Honorary Professor at Federation University Australia. His principal research interests are in the history of heterodox economic thought, especially Marxian political economy and post-Keynesian economics. King has published 115 papers in refereed journals and over 96 book chapters, and is the author, co-author, or editor of 32 books. Recent publications include A History of American Economic Thought (2018; with Samuel Barbour and James Cicarelli), A Modern Guide to State Intervention (2019; with Nikolaos Karagiannis), and The Alternative Austrian Economics (2019), dealing with socialist economic thought in Austria between 1900 and the present day Visions and Strategies for a Sustainable Economy: Theoretical and Policy Alternatives Setting the Context The Structure of the Book Contents Editors and Contributors About the Editors Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Sustainability and Development Policies Sustainability in the Ancient World: Sufficiency as a Strategy of Aristocratic Hegemony 1 Introduction 2 Sufficiency and Its Ulterior Motives 3 Rome: Empire Without Limit 4 Nemesis and Aristocratic Self-Fashioning 5 The Slippery Gold of Seneca 6 Conclusion References Linking the Developmental State to Green Economic Growth 1 Introduction 2 Developmental State Theory in Retrospect: The Absence of ‘Green’ 3 Towards a Green Developmental State Framework 3.1 Sociocultural and Politico-Institutional Elements 3.2 Economic Development and Industrial Targeting Aspects 4 Conclusions References An Environmental Industrial Strategy for Sustainability 1 Introduction 2 The Case for Environmental Industrial Strategy 3 Funding an Environment Industrial Strategy 4 Macroeconomic Policies for an Environmental Industrial Strategy 4.1 Fiscal Policy 4.2 Monetary and Central Bank Policies 5 Concluding Comments References Sustainability and Economic Policies Proper Future Economic Policies 1 Introduction 2 Pre- and After–GFC and Covid-19 Economic Policies 3 Necessary Economic Policy Changes 4 Summary and Conclusions References Monetary Policy Support for a Green New Deal 1 Introduction 2 Green Government Bonds for a Sustainable Economy 3 Interest-Rate Policy for an Ecological Transition 4 Conclusion References “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” Revisited 1 Introduction 2 Abolishing Short Termism 3 Reinventing the State 4 A Real Bonds Doctrine 5 An SFC Representation 6 Discussion 7 Conclusion References Costing the Green New Deal in the United States: The Modern Money Theory Approach 1 Introduction 2 Affordability: The MMT Approach 3 “Costing” the Green New Deal 3.1 The Job Guarantee Path to Jobs for All: (and a Source of Resources for the GND) 3.2 Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency 3.3 Universal Single-Payer Healthcare 3.4 End the Forever Wars 3.5 Achieving Net Zero Carbon Emissions in Agriculture 3.6 Other Sources of Inflationary Pressures 4 Responding to Inflationary Pressures 4.1 Taxing the Rich 4.2 Taxes on Wages—deferred Consumption 5 Conclusions References Sustainability and Social Policies Sustainability and Social Policy Nexus 1 Introduction 2 Social Policy and the Question of Sustainability 3 From Normative to Positive Social Policy: Distributional Issues 3.1 Positive Social Policy 3.2 Growth, Sustainable Development and Social Policy 3.3 The Key Questions for a Sustainable Social Policy 4 Growth or Degrowth? 4.1 What Kind of Growth? 5 Conclusion References Moving Towards a Sustainable Economy—A Social Liberal View 1 Introduction: Problem and Plan 2 Liberalism and Social Liberalism 3 Neoclassical Economics and Classical-Keynesian Political Economy 4 The Natural State and Alienation 5 Classical-Keynesian Political Economy and the Problem of the Natural Environment 6 The External Employment Mechanism at the Origin of Environmental Problems 7 The Internal Employment Mechanism, the Sustainable Economy and the Natural State 8 Environmental Policies: Employment Projects and the Natural Environment 9 Concluding Remarks: Unleashing the “Social” Through Striving After the Common Good References Green New Deal Policies and the Decarbonisation Challenge 1 Introduction 2 Responding to the Challenge of Global Warming 3 Green New Deal and Green Recovery Programmes 4 A Post-Keynesian Approach to Modelling the Economic and Environmental Impact of a Green Recovery Programme 4.1 Motivation 4.2 The E3ME Model 4.3 Using E3ME to Model a Green Recovery 5 Conclusions References Sustainability and Area Studies Building Sustainable Communities in the Global South: The Communitarian Revolutionary Subject 1 Introduction 2 An Alternative Understanding: A Different Point of Departure 3 Building the Commons: Local Solutions Are Collective Endeavors 4 Creating the Foundations for Communal Governance: Generating and Managing Surplus 5 Communal Approaches to Environmental Justice 6 The Prospects for Alternative Strategies for Environmental Justice References Linking Caribbean Development Options to Green and Blue Economic Growth: Key Notions and Policy Implications 1 Introduction: The Caribbean Development Context 2 Caribbean Development Strategies: Past and Present 3 The Caribbean Developmental State: A Pragmatic Alternative 4 Developmental State-Led Green and Blue Growth Strategies for Caribbean Economies 5 Conclusion References China’s Ecological Civilization: From Contradiction to Synthesis 1 Introduction 2 China’s Dual Crises of Unemployment and Environmental Degradation 3 The Economy and the Environment in China 4 Contradictions in China’s Environmental Policies from 1978 to 2005 5 From Contradiction to Synthesis Since 2005 6 Conclusion Works Consulted Index