Ways to a Zero-Growth Society. A Comparative Evaluation of Different Scenarios

In this thesis, we will see how economic growth, as it is understood today, cannot be sustained into the future. This is mainly due to environmental limits, but also to the fact that economic growth is usually debt-financed and is erroneously measured. In 1972 already, Meadows et al. have proposed a model of society that would be freed from this growth spiral: the Steady State Economy. Such a society would put constraints on purely physical growth, mostly driven by population and production growth. This thesis enumerates policy recommendations formulated by three influential authors in the field of Steady States economics, namely Niko Paech, Herman Daly and Tim Jackson. The author established a best practice of these policy recommendations and identified education as the most important institution to bring about the necessary changes for a transition towards a sustainable society.