The crisis in employment and consumer demand: Reconciliation with environmental sustainability
Name
G83p The Crisis in Employment and Earning Capacity(b)_2011-12-19_(figures).docx
Size
201.5 KB
Format
Photoshop
Checksum (MD5)
e669c81a4def3cc1109879022d56c8f0
Author(s)
Ashford, Nicholas A.
Hall, Ralph P.
Ashford, Robert H.
Date Issued
March 2012
Journal
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Ashford, Nicholas A., Ralph P. Hall, and Robert H. Ashford. “The Crisis in Employment and Consumer Demand: Reconciliation with Environmental Sustainability.” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 2 (March 2012): 1–22.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
This paper argues that a sustainable industrial system depends not only on good environmental and public health outcomes, but also on adequate employment and earning capacity in a well-functioning and equitable economic system. These concerns are likely to dominate future national political debates, requiring responses that increase the earning capacity of individuals through changes in the nature of work and employment, and in the ownership of productive capital. Making the economy greener, while certainly necessary for long-term economic and societal survival, does not necessarily mean more and better paying jobs on a large enough scale to make serious progress to reducing unemployment and underemployment. At present, national and global reforms are focused on improving the financial system, which is not synonymous with reforming the economic system or improving the economic status of individual citizens. This paper discusses specific policies and initiatives that need to be considered to ensure sustainable employment and livelihoods.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. School of Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2012.01.002
