HUMAN FLOURISHING IN

PROGRESS AND DE-

DEVELOPMENT
“Forget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich countries”
 “Forget ‘developing’ poor
countries, it’s time to ‘de-
develop’ rich countries”

- Jason Hickel
(Economic Anthropologist,
Author, and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts)

THE ARGUMENT OF
JASON HICKEL
Since 1980,
The global economy has grown by 380%
The number of people living in poverty
on less than $5/day has increased by more
than 1.1 billion.

 This implies that the concept of trickle-

down economics is flawed and ineffective
from the beginning.
 Orthodox economists insist that all that is
needed is more growth.

THE FLAW OF GROWTH AND

DEVELOPMENT
THE PLANET’S BIOCAPACITY
The planet only has enough resources for each person to
consume 1.8 global hectares annually (Ghas/person/year)
Global Hectare (GHa) is a standardized unit that
measures resource use and waste
United States and Canada consumes about 8
GHas/person/year, Europeans consume
GHas/person/year. All way beyond the planet’s
biocapacity.
 NOT-SO-
FUN FACT:
If all of the Earth’s
more than 7 billion
humans live like a
typical American, we
are going to need the
equivalent of 4.1 Planet
Earths! (2 Planet Earths
just for trash).
 THE PLANET’S
BIOCAPACITY

People are overshooting

the planet’s biocapacity
by more than 50% each
year.
 Overshoot refers to the rate
of consumption by humanity
has exceeded the Earth’s
natural capacity to
regenerate.
July 29 is the Earth’s
Overshoot Day for the year
2019, the earliest in history.

EARTH OVERSHOOT
DAY
“CATCHING DOWN” WITH
POOR COUNTRIES
According Economist Peter Edward, instead
of pushing poorer countries to “catch up” with
rich ones, we should be thinking of ways to
get rich countries to “catch down” to more
appropriate level of development.
SAMPLE CASE: USA VS. CUBA
United States of Cuba
America
Life Expectancy 79 years 78 years
GDP per capita $53,000.00 $6,000.00

GHas/person/year 8 GHas/person/year 1.9 GHas/person/year

 Cuba has achieved a relatively same development in terms of Human

Flourishing without a massive negative impact to Earth’s Biocapacity.
Hence, rich countries should “catch down” with poor countries.