Secular Stagnation and Climate Change

• In Event: 41020 - Section on Political Economy of the World-System Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: Climate and Culture

Abstract

There is increasing attention and debate about the capitalist “growth paradigm” and climate change. Yet, frequently left out of these discussions is the medium to long-term decline in growth rates or “secular stagnation.” In this paper, I draw on Marxist and Post-Keynesian perspectives to square this circle. I argue there are distinct stagnation and emissions pathways based on a core/periphery model of the world economy. In the Global North, emission stocks are high but have been falling due to de-industrialization while activities replacing industry like services, intellectual property regimes, and financialization are associated with stagnation. In the Global South, emissions are rising as industrial activity has relocated there. However, the fragmented, competitive, and subordinate character of global production has produced a problem of overproduction based on high exploitation thereby leading to stagnation as well. Analyzing stagnation reveals a number of important structural forces at play in emissions and gives new insight into the political economy of climate change.

Author

• Matthew Soener, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign