Degrowth calls for a sustainable downscaling of production and consumption, to enhance wellbeing and environmental sustainability. It is important, for the widespread acceptance of this aim, to show how and under which conditions sustainable degrowth can be achieved.

In order to gain a broad political legitimacy, the social and environmental effects of no-growth policies need to be shown and contrasted with business as usual scenarios in which the socio-environmental consequences of negative growth are tested.

Quantitative analysis and formal modelling are useful tools to provide a credible answer as well as urgently necessary in the field of degrowth studies which can be characterized, so far, by a prevalence of qualitative analysis. In this perspective, it is also important the integration of models that enclose natural resource dynamics, socio-economic variables such as employment, or energy policies.

The development of this kind of models is nowadays crucial to contrast austerity measures that have largely failed to reduce high levels of unemployment, poverty and insecurity and, at meantime, to foster economic growth.

This session will present some of the most recent advances in the field of ecological macroeconomics in which economic modelling is related to degrowth, no-growth and negative growth scenarios.

In particular, the social effects, in terms of reduction in poverty, unemployment and inequalities, as well as the environmental effects are quantified according to different models, policies, geographical regions and future scenarios.

Results from these models demonstrate that with the adoption of adequate policies sustainable degrowth is possible

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „Economic modelling and Degrowth “ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.