The Discreet Charm of Economic Growth: Part I: The Bilinguals (English Edition)

Is economic activity the spontaneous playing out of individual preferences with respect to consumption and leisure? Or, approaching the question from a somewhat different angle, are modern societies committed to a neutral stance between these two goods? “The Discreet Charm of Economic Growth” confronts the ingenuous answers that today’s conventional wisdom has to offer. An analysis of the public debates occasioned by the recent Great Recession and its unsatisfactory aftermath stands for the point of departure of this inquiry. In search of the ideological constructs recognizable in the watermark of these discussions, Robert Balthazar first turns to a genealogical investigation within economic science and, in Part II, surveys a highly eclectic interdisciplinary discussion centered on the paramountcy of economic growth. At times ironic, oftentimes relying on contrarian insights, this inquiry attempts to seize the making of an overriding preference for economic maximalism.