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Publié le
Jeudi 26 Septembre 2013
“Sustainable” development has to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. For several decades French growth has not complied with this definition: the prospect of climate change, the acceleration of species’extinction and the pollution of our ground water provide three such examples merely within the field of the environment.
Towards a More Sustainable Growth Model?

Similar questions surround the sustainability of our Welfare State while our public debt makes us vulnerable to financial crises.

There are serious methodological difficulties in determining the possible nature of sustainable growth for the French economy. It requires anticipating the future development of our model of growth and, therefore, a clear understanding of its interaction with the natural and social environment, as well as with other economies at the European and international levels. Beyond the difficulties in predicting France’s growth model, there may be disagreement with regard to the solutions required to build a sustainable model and ensure that the costs of such a model are equitably distributed. Indeed, the sustainability of a growth model presupposes that the objectives to be met and the reforms to be implemented have been developed, through discussion, whi le taking budgetary const raints into account.

This is the only standard that will enable us to assess the possibility of succeeding in reforming our modes of production and social model, while initiating the necessary ecological and energy transition that will lead us to rethink our models of consumption, production, development and growth. In order to ensure our transition towards a sustainable growth model, our institutions will need to have more effective means of taking long-term considerations into account. The debates and consultations held in the coming weeks should enable us to outline the model (or models) of growth towards which we intend to move.

Contributors : Mahdi Ben Jelloul, Pierre-Yves Cusset, Géraldine Ducos, Clélia Godot, Mohamed Harfi, Jean-Luc Pujol

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Auteurs

Pierre-Yves Cusset - DSPS - Equipe
Type d'image: 
Libre
Pierre-Yves
Cusset
Société et politiques sociales
Mohamed Harfi
Mohamed
Harfi
Travail, emploi, compétences
Mahdi Ben Jelloul
Géraldine Ducos
Clélia Godot
Jean-Luc Pujol