RAPID ECONOMIC CONTRACTION
... for people, nature, and business

 Logo - depiction of contractionary curve

 

The documents on this website are intended for those who are deeply concerned about the ecological crisis, who understand that the solutions currently being proposed cannot possibly succeed, and who are willing to consider a radical but workable solution - contractionism. This is a proposed economic system as well as a potential movement to make this system a global reality.

The following are contractionism's key assertions:

 

 

SMALLER ECONOMIES

  • Widespread destruction of the biosphere can be averted only if the world's rich capitalist economies undergo rapid contraction. This will entail sharp reductions in consumption, significantly lower populations, and increased ecological efficiencies.
     
  • The process of rapid contraction will be fair: reduced consumption will target excesses rather than necessities, and work will be equitably shared.

 

 

CAPITALISM

  • Rapid contraction is impossible under capitalist conditions because the system is dependent on growth, which necessitates increased consumption and rising populations.
     
  • The unavoidable conclusion is that capitalism, whatever its perceived benefits in the past, must now be historically superseded.

 

 

SOCIALISM

  • Socialism is not the correct alternative to capitalism because its historical mission was to shift the material gains of an expanding economy from capitalists to workers. The task now is completely different: to shift humankind's economies from an expansionary to a contractionary trajectory.
     
  • Socialism also erred in denying the depth of human nature, and in its insistence that all production be socialized. Contractionism, by contrast, fully acknowledges humankind's natural tendencies and embraces a socially controlled form of private enterprise.

 

 

THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

  • A capitalist economy can be transformed into a contractionary economy through a process called organic change. This entails the immediate replacement of the system's ecocidal core and the swift evolution of its institutions.
     
  • Organic change rejects what is harmful in capitalism, but retains what is useful for humankind's future. For this reason, contractionism's posture is properly characterized as post-capitalism, but not as anti-capitalism.
     
  • Organic change will be fiercely resisted by those in power. It therefore implies an intense political struggle.
     
  • I anticipate that this struggle will be conducted by both progressives and conservatives: progressives because contractionism is consistent with their human and environmental values, and conservatives because it is consistent with their interests in retaining the ecological conditions for healthy businesses.

 

 

If you feel that these assertions have merit, I urge you to read the overview document below. Complete details about contractionism can be found in the two downloadable books on this webpage.

Frank Rotering
June 2013

 



 Image of Contractionism: An Overview document
 This document is the summary chapter of Contractionary Revolution. It provides an overview of contractionism's key ideas. (22 pages, 454 KB PDF)

Image of Contractionary Revolution book cover
 This book is my main statement. I address the overshoot crisis, my proposed economic solution, the capitalist power that blocks the solution's implementation, and the revolutions that can overcome this obstacle in order to salvage the biosphere. I also criticize three current approaches to ecological decline: green reformism, ecosocialism, and radical environmentalism. (216 pages, 4.8 MB PDF)

Image of The Economics of Needs and Limits book cover

 This book describes the Economics of Needs and Limits (ENL), which is intended to provide rational economic guidance after capitalism's historical supersession. The book is aimed at those with a technical orientation or a background in economic thought. For most people the ENL synopsis provided in Contractionary Revolution will suffice. (250 pages, 6.9 MB PDF)

 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Please contact me only to seek clarification on the concepts presented, to suggest improvements, or to point out errors. The extreme urgency of rapid contraction means that the initiation of contractionary movements has strong priority over debates and discussions.

EMAIL: frank (at) needsandlimits.org