Abstract: In 2007 Peter Victor and Gideo Rosenbluth published their groundbreaking article on managing without growth (Victor und Rosenbluth 2007). The authors developed the system-dynamics based model LOW GROW of the Canadian economy and started exploring the connection between growth, no growth, degrowth and a prosperous societal development. The present paper shows the results of the adaption of LOW GROW to Germany. The research shows that Victors and Rosenbluths results hold for the german context: it underlines the importance of working time reduction and redistribution for a degrowth-society. Furthermore the introduction of the ecological footprint allows for a specification of the scale the economy must reach in order to develop within ecological limits and confirms the assumption of a degrowth-and-Steady-State-scenario (O'Neill 2012). The paper contextualizes the results within the emerging field of ecological macroeconomics and deals with the possibilities of mainstream growth theory to cope with degrowth. It finishes with some perspectives on the possibilities and limits of modeling degrowth.

O'Neill, Daniel W. (2012): Measuring progress in the degrowth transition to a steady state economy. In: Ecological Economics 84, p. 221–231.

Victor, Peter A.; Rosenbluth, Gideon (2007): Managing without growth. In: Ecological Economics 61 (2-3), p. 492–504.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „Modeling degrowth: LOW GROW for Germany.“ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.