Beyond Growth

Foreword

Launched in May 2015, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría’s ‘21 for 21’ proposal called for the consolidation and further transformation of the OECD, including by ‘redefining the growth narrative to put the well-being of people at the centre of our efforts.’

To contribute to this debate, in 2018 the Secretary-General commissioned an Advisory Group on a New Growth Narrative to examine how economic, social and environmental considerations could be integrated in a coherent approach. Acting in a personal capacity, the Advisory Group comprises Andy Haldane, Michael Jacobs, Alan Kirman, Nora Lustig, Mariana Mazzucato, Robert Skidelsky, Dennis Snower and Roberto Unger.1 Members of the Advisory Group serve in a personal capacity. They endorse the broad arguments made in this report but should not necessarily be taken as agreeing with every word. The Group has sought to bring together in a single, short and readable document various strands of new economic thinking curated over recent years by the New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) initiative. Beyond Growth: Towards a New Economic Approach is their report.

The report has been written and coordinated by Michael Jacobs, with research assistance by Merve Sancak at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute. The project has been overseen by Gabriela Ramos, former Chief of Staff and Sherpa, with the support of William Hynes, the NAEC Co‑ordinator.

The report attempts to synthesise a wide range of reflection on new ways of thinking about economic policymaking. It encompasses a new set of goals and measures of economic and social progress; new frameworks of economic analysis; and new approaches to policy.

While reactions from OECD members are strongly welcomed, this is not an OECD report requiring approval. Nor is it exhaustive in the content covered. Focusing on the challenges facing OECD countries, it builds on the NAEC reports New Approaches to Economic Challenges: Towards a New Narrative, presented at OECD Week in 2017, and Elements of a New Growth Narrative (SG/NAEC(2018)1), discussed at the NAEC Group meeting in September 2018 marking 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

The opinions expressed and the arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD member countries, nor any institution with which the contributors may be affiliated.

Note

← 1.  Andy Haldane is Chief Economist of the Bank of England.

Michael Jacobs is Professorial Fellow in the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Sheffield.

Alan Kirman is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Aix-Marseille University and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and senior adviser to NAEC.

Nora Lustig is the Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics in the Department of Economics at Tulane University.

Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick.

Dennis Snower is founder and President of the Global Solutions Initiative and the Global Economic Symposium and was President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Professor of Economics at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel until February 2019. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger is Roscoe Pound Professor of Law at Harvard University.