Admission requirements
There are no compulsory pre-requisites, but having prior knowledge about economics, global megatrends in sustainability and population are a benefit. Having followed the advanced IO course would provide a better understanding of national accounts and how GDP is built up and measured.
The course is aimed at first-year IE and GoS students. There will be a maximum of 20 students allowed in the course (15 from IE and 5 from GoS). This will be on the basis of first-come-first-serve (online registration not email).
Description
The recent Beyond-Growth conference in Brussels in May 2023 was symbolic of the renewed interest in beyond-growth paradigms such as degrowth, green growth and Doughnut Economics. Fundamentally these discussions are all about achieving inclusive and sustainable well-being, but they differ significantly in their proposals. Given the many ecological and social crises of our time, the discussion could not be more urgent.
Yet warnings about the limits to growth have been around for many decades. It is not sufficient to simply repeat the problems or suggesting policy solutions. The main problem of society is one of implementation: the available diagnosis and solutions are not sufficiently adopted.
This course will provide students with scientific tools and insights which will help them develop their ideas about how to work towards concrete implementation of post-growth ideas. This will require knowledge of the scientific and empirical literature as well as an understanding of the role of institutions and narratives in shaping society.
Course objectives
After this course students will be able to:
Theory of Change
Understand how economic narratives became so powerful at the technical, governance/policy levels.
Assess and analyses the major Beyond Growth initiatives in the European Union, OECD and at the United Nations.
Technical Level
Understand the scientific underpinnings of movements such as De-growth and Green growth
Understand the long-term relationships between economic growth, wellbeing, inequalities and sustainability
Understand the theories behind the top Beyond-GDP metrics and be able to link them to accounting structures like input-output tables and the system of environmental-economic accounts (SEEA).
Understand a WISE accounting system which provides an interdisciplinary alternative to the System of National Accounts (which prescribes how to measures GDP).
Analyze and interpret the WISE database hosted at www.beyond-GDP.world
Understand the insights from the major models related to well-being, inclusion and sustainability (ecological-economic models, sufficiency models, Earth4all, IAMS etc)
Governance/Policy Level
Know the governments that have been experimenting with the well-being economy and understand how national governments and international institutes are involved.
Understand the thinking behind the Policy guide of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll).
Understand how governance and policy interact by analyzing the Inflation Reduction Act or European Green Deal
Narrative Level
Develop ideas about why post-growth is not covered in media or through other channels. This will be done based on a case study of the media coverage of the Beyond-Growth conference.
Think of strategies to spread post-growth narratives.
Analyse the framework of Jonathan Haidt, to understand the different moral foundations that people have, including typical progressives an conservatives, and its implications for narratives in society.
Link the role of scientific and activist communication in the theory of change
Skills
Demonstrate skills working collaboratively with peers.
Be able to empirically analyze long term developments in wellbeing, inclusion and sustainability and other underlying foundations such as economic growth, governance, technology etc.
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable.
Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
The course is based on interactive lectures with a lot of group discussions. There will also be one week with external guest speakers for which the students will have to prepare questions. In addition, two weeks will be reserved for the group presentations.
Assessment method
Assessment
There are two group presentations which will be judged. Groups will be 2-3 people depending on the number of people joining the course. The two topics are:
1) Beyond-GDP metrics. Students will be asked to analyze the technical aspects of 1-2 metrics and also analyze their influence on governance/policy and the narratives that can be told with them.
2) Pitching a beyond-growth policy to a progressive and conservative audience. Using the framework of Jonathan Haidt, students will learn alternative ways to frame their arguments.
In addition, the students will be asked to write a short report with an empirical analysis (kaya decomposition or other analysis) of the development of wellbeing, inclusion or sustainability over the long term. This will be discussed in a 25 minute oral exam.
Weighing
The first presentation is 20% of the final grade and the second 30%. The report and interview will be 50% of the grade.
Resit
The groups will be allowed to redo the presentations, if the first time is deemed insufficient. The interview can also be retaken.
Reading list
Relevant literature and study material will be communicated and disclosed on BrightSpace Leiden University.
Registration
Every student of all years must enroll via MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you will see step by step how to enroll in courses in MyStudyMap. Note that your enrollment is only completed when you submit your course planning in the 'Ready for enrollment' tab by clicking 'submit'.
There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to register for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam. Keep in mind that there are enrollment deadlines, see this page for more information.
Extensive FAQ on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Coordinator: Rutger Hoekstra
Other involved teachers: Annegeke Jansen, Inge Schrijver and 3 external speakers.
Remarks
MSc Industrial Ecology students can register for the course and exam via MystudyMap. Other students need to contact the study advisors of the programme via studyadvisor-ie@cml.leidenuniv.nl