Beyond GDP, Unequal Exchange, and the Life-Coherent Reordering of ProgressBy Dr Bichara Sahely
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Length49m
About this audiobook
An Economy Answerable to Life argues that moving beyond GDP requires more than better indicators. It requires reordering the economy itself so that production, finance, trade, technology, and governance serve life-capacity, ecological integrity, democratic provisioning, repair, and future viability.
Drawing on Jason Hickel’s political economy, John McMurtry’s life-value onto-axiology, Johan Galtung’s theory of structural violence, and Maturana and Varela’s account of living systems and world-bringing, this white paper develops a life-coherent framework for rethinking progress.
It shows why ecological overshoot and human deprivation coexist, how unequal exchange drains life-capacity across borders, and why degrowth is best understood as differentiated convergence: less destructive excess, more life-necessary provisioning, and enough for all within planetary boundaries.
The central claim is simple: an economy is legitimate only insofar as it is answerable to life.
