The Economics of the Good Life: A Critique of Growth

In the first part of my review of Robert and Edward Skidelsky’s How Much is Enough? I looked at the puzzle of leisure. Why, the Skidelskys ask, do we work so hard, even when we are well enough off to afford the additional leisure we need to live a good life? Beyond that follow some even more important questions:  What is a good life, anyway? Does endless economic growth make it easier or harder to live a good life? What kinds of public policy could help us live better? These questions contain both economic and philosophical elements, a combination that the Skidelsky team—the father, an economist, the son a philosopher—are eminently qualified to take on. This second part of my review explores some of their answers. >>>Read more

In the first part of my review of Robert and Edward Skidelsky’s How Much is Enough? I looked at the puzzle of leisure. Why, the Skidelskys ask, do we work so hard, even when we are well enough off to afford the additional leisure we need to live a good life? Beyond that follow some even more important questions:  What is a good life, anyway? Does endless economic growth make it easier or harder to live a good life? What kinds of public policy could help us live better? These questions contain both economic and philosophical elements, a combination that the Skidelsky team—the father, an economist, the son a philosopher—are eminently qualified to take on. This second part of my review explores some of their answers. - See more at: http://www.economonitor.com/dolanecon/2013/06/24/growth-public-policy-and-the-economics-of-the-good-life/#sthash.mZ8YvuZg.dpuf