"GDP and the Idolatry of Growth"

in CounterPunch

My latest article for CounterPunch presents a critical approach to the concepts of progress and growth. You can read the full piece here (no pay wall).

It bears repeating that the imperative of economic growth, even before formalized GDP as we know it today, is intimately bound as a historical matter to imperialism and the process of accumulation by dispossession. The attempt to measure growth and progress using such a distorted yardstick made the resort to land and resource theft practically inevitable…