Why politicians chasing economic growth is a lie | Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty – podcast
By Presented by Aditya Chakrabortty with Karel Williams and Sukhdev Johal, produced by Frankie Tobi and Luke John Smith, executive producers Maz Ebtehaj, Kirsty Major and James Tindale. · Via The Guardian Politics · Published by Everything Blog
The discussion features insights from Williams and Johal, whose research with the Foundational Economy Collective addresses widespread stagnation and the national cost of living crisis. They examine real-world post-growth conditions, referencing findings documented in south Wales in 2016. The researchers also highlight systemic infrastructure failures, detailed in their book *Murky Water: Challenging an Unsustainable System*, which analyzes the broken water network across England and Wales.
Key points
Researchers argue that alternative futures must be developed for towns and suburbs facing…: Researchers argue that alternative futures must be developed for towns and suburbs facing ongoing economic stagnation.
Freely accessible academic analysis helps bring crucial findings on the cost of living cr…: Freely accessible academic analysis helps bring crucial findings on the cost of living crisis straight to the public.
The failure of essential infrastructure is exemplified by England and Wales's broken wate…: The failure of essential infrastructure is exemplified by England and Wales's broken water system analyzed in the book Murky Water.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
You can watch previous episodes of Radical Thinking here
Aditya’s suggested reading list for this episode:
As we say in the podcast, I’ve championed the work of Karel and Sukhdev and their colleagues for many years in the Guardian, and some of my columns are a good introduction to their approach.
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In our conversation we look at what life after growth looks like for towns and suburbs, and what it should look like. This report from south Wales in 2016 examines the present-day reality.
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For a broader analysis of how the UK has become highly unequal and increasingly stagnant, try this.
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As part of the Foundational Economy Collective, Williams and Johal put a lot of their analysis into freely available working papers. That circumvents the leisureliness and expense of academic publishing and gets their arguments in front of a wider public. A good example is this one on the cost of living crisis.
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More recently, they’ve focused on the broken water system of England and Wales in a book called Murky Water: Challenging an Unsustainable System.
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