Sustainable Economic Development

Drawing on political economy and economic pluralism, this book explores issues in sustainable economic development from a macro perspective. In contrast to the vast majority of studies on contemporary development problems, which are focused on micro-level theory, method, and policy, this volume brings together both heterodox and mainstream perspectives. The international cast of contributors thus brings a pluralistic approach to core contemporary topics including digital transformation, climate change, degrowth and the effects of the pandemic crisis. Methods range from frameworks used to analyse public policy and institutional change, to modes of analyses including historically grounded narratives and conceptualisations of grand theories. Each chapter surveys the origins, development, key features, applications, and frontiers of a particular viewpoint, framework, or mode of analysis. This book makes a vital contribution to the literature on economic development, sustainable development, capitalism, and sustainability more broadly.

Giorgos Meramveliotakis is Assistant Professor of Economic Theory and Policy at the Neapolis University Pafos, Cyprus, and Coordinator of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and MSc in European Politics & Governance programmes. Manolis Manioudis is Assistant Professor of Economic History and History of Economic Thought at the Department of Economics, University of Patras. He is a coordinator of the Department of Economic Development at the Institute of Commerce and Services at the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (INEMY-ESEE).

Introduction. PART I: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 1. The Vagaries and Volatilities of Mainstream Development Evonomics: A Personal Account 2. Reconsidering the role of economists and economics: Towards an 'institutional' ecological economics PART II: HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 3. On the limits of growth in Classical Political Economy 4. Economic growth and social sustainability. How useful can it be to go back to the research programme of the German historical school? 5. Stages of capitalist development and maximum marine plastic pollution and the SDGs. PART III: DEGROWTH, URBAN ECONOMICS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 6. A Review of the Political Critique to the Idea of Sustainable Development 7. Just Ecological Political Economy: A Radical Anti-Thesis of Environmental and Ecological Economics PART IV: GLOBALIZATION, CLIMATE CHANGE AND CRISES 8. Alternative Globalization Dynamics for a more Sustainable Development and Growth Process 9.Climate Change and Sustainable Development: A Global South Perspective PART V: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, INNOVATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY 10. Towards Industry 6.0 and Techno-centric vs Human-centric Smart Balancing: The Journey from Industry 4.0 towards Industry and Society 5.0 and Beyond 11. The long and co-evolutionary path to green transition: history, technology, innovation and new policy paradigms PART VI: INFRASTRUCTURE, CULTURE AND GENDER 12. Infrastructure Capital and Growth: What can we learn from region-level data? 13. Cultural Background as a Crucial Factor for Sustainable Development 14. Reducing the Gender Digital Divide: Inequalities, Feminism and Technology