GrowthA Reckoning

by Daniel Susskind
GrowthA Reckoning cover
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  • ID: 437
  • Added: 2025-09-11
  • Updated: 2025-10-24
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  • Reviews: 4
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blogs.lse.ac.uk · Unknown · 2025-06-15
mixed 3.00

Growth: A Reckoning by Daniel Susskind explores the dilemma of economic growth, acknowledging its transformative potential while critiquing its environmental and social costs. The reviewer finds the book insightful but ultimately unsatisfactory, arguing that Susskind fails to distinguish between beneficial and wasteful growth.

Daniel Susskind's Growth: A Reckoning delves into the complex issue of economic growth, highlighting its historical significance and the modern obsession with it. The book presents growth as both treasured and dangerous, capable of driving progress but also environmental destruction and inequality. Susskind endorses the need for more growth, particularly through innovation and technology, but the reviewer finds his arguments flawed, especially his dismissal of degrowth critiques. The reviewer argues that Susskind does not adequately address the different contexts of growth, failing to distinguish between growth that improves lives and growth that exacerbates excess. While the book is engaging, its conclusion is deemed unsatisfactory, as it does not provide a clear path forward. The reviewer suggests that the debate around growth needs to be more nuanced, focusing on what kind of growth is beneficial and for whom.

Quick quotes

    Describing it as one of our “most treasured and most dangerous ideas”, economist Daniel Susskind sets out to investigate this dilemma in Growth: A Reckoning.

    This is true in theory and I’ve said as much myself, but it’s only true in the abstract.

    Instead, we need to learn to deal with the trade-offs, Susskind argues. Degrowth is “folly” and “catastrophe”.

earthbound.report · Unknown · 2024-11-19
intriguing 4.00

Daniel Susskind's 'Growth: A History and a Reckoning' explores the paradox of economic growth, highlighting its historical significance and the modern dilemmas it presents. The book argues that while growth has lifted billions out of poverty, it also poses severe environmental threats, making the future of growth a complex and urgent issue.

Daniel Susskind's 'Growth: A History and a Reckoning' delves into the intricate history and contemporary implications of economic growth. The book begins by illustrating the stark contrast between the stagnant living standards of pre-industrial societies and the rapid prosperity brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Susskind argues that modern economic growth, which began just two hundred years ago, has been a remarkable triumph, lifting billions out of poverty and significantly improving living standards. However, this growth has also led to severe environmental consequences, including climate change and resource depletion. The book explores the moral and political dilemmas posed by growth, questioning whether it is sustainable or even desirable in the face of these challenges. Susskind's nuanced analysis makes it clear that the future of growth is a complex issue that requires careful consideration and balanced solutions.

Quick quotes

    The paradox of growth — that we suffer from both too much of it and too little of it

    Is there any good way forward?

    A world without growth is difficult for modern people to comprehend, but it characterized most of human history.

spe.org.uk · Unknown · 2024-07-03
intriguing 4.00

Daniel Susskind's 'Growth: A Reckoning' explores the history and future of economic growth, arguing that while growth has brought many benefits, its current form is problematic. The book suggests that the solution lies in fostering innovation and technological progress, rather than pursuing degrowth or attempting to redefine GDP.

Daniel Susskind's 'Growth: A Reckoning' is an engaging exploration of the history and future of economic growth. The book begins by tracing the origins of sustained economic growth, arguing that prior to around 1800, there was no significant upward trend in global GDP per capita. Susskind attributes the onset of growth to a combination of factors, including technological progress and cultural shifts towards reason and innovation. However, he also highlights the negative consequences of the current form of growth, which he describes as climate-destroying, inequality-creating, and community-disrupting. The book dismisses the arguments for degrowth, suggesting that the benefits of growth outweigh its costs. Instead, Susskind proposes that the solution lies in fostering innovation and technological progress, through reforms such as patent system changes, increased R&D, and directed technological change. While the book's conclusion is optimistic, there is a sense that the author harbors some doubts about the feasibility of these proposals.

Quick quotes

    Susskind tackles today’s crunch question — should we continue to pursue economic growth, and if so, how to shape it? He does so in an engaging and highly readable manner. His conclusion is optimistic — although I have a nagging sense that he does not quite believe it.

    Growth, as measured by GDP, was given policy priority post WWII — it seemed to bring with it the other things we care about: higher living standards, longer life, jobs, etc.

    Susskind then turns to, and largely dismisses, the arguments for degrowth. He points out that the outcome argued for by the degrowthers is essentially a recession, though of a different kind with the pain differently distributed and less use of fossil fuels.

newyorker.com · Unknown · 2024-05-27
intriguing 4.50

Daniel Susskind's 'Growth: A Reckoning' explores the benefits and harms of economic growth, advocating for redirecting technological progress rather than abandoning it. The book questions how this can be done sustainably, delving into the history of growth, the degrowth movement, and the role of ideas and morality in economic policy.

Daniel Susskind's 'Growth: A Reckoning' provides a comprehensive history of economic growth, from its slow progress over millennia to its acceleration during the industrial revolution and normalization in the post-war era. The book critically examines the degrowth movement, which advocates for stopping or reversing economic growth to protect the environment. Susskind argues that economic growth has brought significant benefits and that economies can grow without additional material resources. He emphasizes that measuring economic output and determining societal outcomes are distinct concepts. The book also highlights the role of ideas as the primary driver of long-term economic growth and suggests that technological progress can be directed through public sector and market mechanisms. Susskind's most original idea is putting morality back at the center of economic policy-making, acknowledging that trade-offs involving factors like the environment or equality are fundamentally moral and require political processes. He proposes using 'mini-publics' or citizens' assemblies to facilitate discussions on these trade-offs. While the idea of ideas driving growth is compelling, the book acknowledges its limits, noting that nations like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore have achieved significant growth through investment in education, infrastructure, and new businesses, rather than just relying on new ideas.

Quick quotes

    The trade-offs that continually have to be made in determining economic policies (involving factors such as the environment or equality) are fundamentally moral

    How many works of genius are lost in the pile of low-value ideas?

    The relationship between politics and economic growth is like a long-established marriage.

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