in France (the COP-21), the only decent question being asked of us mere mortals is the following: can we think about our future solely in terms of growth rate? Growth rate, always faithfully accompanied by GDP, has become the benchmark against which national economic policy is gauged: everything is related to this indicator. It is the be-all and end-all of how our societies function. The West, where the concept was shaped by the OECD in the 1950s, can see in its current (and long-term) economic stagnation a decline in its civilisation to the benefit of what in the late 19th Century used to be called the Yellow Peril, and now of all the emerging countries. Nonetheless, we should remember that economic growth forms just a tiny episode in the history of humanity. Economic historians date the period of expansion (high growth rate, increased productivity, etc.) between 1870 and 1970, and the apogee of this period, unique in history, between 1943 and 1970. This was what Robert Gordon, in 1999, called the One Big Wave: a unique period of economic growth. Furthermore, as the French economist Jean Gadrey highlights, his theory failed to mention the depletion of natural resources (“Peak All”, the production peak of all resources), or the proliferation of negative impacts of growth on the environment and the costs that go with them. Besides inveterate optimists, no-one would now deny that we have entered the famous secular stagnation, a concept developed by Alvin Hansen. Is it serious, doctor? Yes, if all our actions are evaluated by means of GDP growth rate. No, if other indicators are used to guide our actions. To this end, it is high time that national accounting bodies and central banks took an interest in human development. The era of the finite world is beginning, as Paul Valéry said. Result! Now we are into the era of human well-being.
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