September 20, 2024

Degrowth and downsizing are family

Sir, Soumaya Keynes in “What’s wrong with ‘degrowth’ research?”, FT September 20, mentions: “A… gap is research look­ing into ways of get­ting people on board with rad­ical eco­nomic change.”

I’m in the midst of a major downsizing project. From a large home to some much smaller without stairs apartments in other countries. That includes, among others, having to decide on what to do with monstrous amounts of very dear memorabilia; and foremost with what now evidences to be a life-long purchasing compulsion; put on steroids with the help of wife and daughters.

I’m certain that research on what a thousand of downsizers randomly selected did, and felt while doing it; assisted by some dozens of decluttering and downsizing consultants, would in so many ways immensely advance ‘degrowth’ research.

Sir, IKEA has recently started a program called “Second hand - let old furniture find new homes”. That sure sounds like growth by degrowth to me.