Manifesto

Federico Tabellini endorses the Manifesto of Liberals for Degrowth:

We, Liberals for Degrowth, in harmony with the wider transnational degrowth movement, believe:

  • That the current socioeconomic model, based on a limitless growth of the material economy, is both socially and environmentally unsustainable.
  • That the roots of this model are not only cultural, social and economic, but also institutional (e.g. an inflationist monetary system, fiscal and redistributive systems centred on wages, etc.).
  • That an alternative model is needed, and that this new model must be an environmentally sustainable, economically stable and socially fair steady-state society (i.e. with zero material growth).
  • That the implementation of this alternative socioeconomic model requires a preliminary phase of degrowth of the material economy (up to a level sustainable for local and global ecosystems).
  • That the new socioeconomic model will need to partially constrain the market in order to safeguard the sustainability of the model at both the local and global level, as well as the principles of social fairness.

We, Liberals for Degrowth, often in disharmony with the wider transnational degrowth movement, also believe:

  • That both the initial degrowth phase and the future society must be reformist, democratic and liberal.
  • That among the many possible paths that lead towards a sustainable and fair steady-state society, the best is that which requires the smallest number of changes to the current socioeconomic model (Ockham’s Razor principle).
  • That a free market constitutes the most efficient means to produce the goods and services needed in this future society, and that the role of public institutions is to set up and enforce sustainability thresholds for the market at the local and global level, as well as to ensure it fulfils the agreed upon standards of social fairness.
  • That aside from the above-mentioned limitations and those already implemented in the current liberal democracies, the market should be left as free as possible.
  • That our future society must be based on a series of inviolable liberal principles, including: a separation between the executive, legislative and judiciary powers; a fully operational rule of law; the defence of human, civil and political rights on an individual basis; and a representative democracy bound to respecting the above-mentioned principles.

The full text of the manifesto is available here.

Federico Tabellini,

01/02/2022