Abstract
The study briefly recalls the evolution and crisis of the theory and thought of John Maynard Keynes with the rise and progressive dominance of the neoliberalism paradigm. The exercise has been made for evaluating the effects of such process for the sustainability of the global economy and society. In this view, we explored how Keynes’ contribution could be useful for the global economy in building a new paradigm of socio-economic development underpinning the transition to circular economy (CE). We also evaluated the adoption of the Global Green New Deal including a case study of Italy for the purpose of suggesting how that topical political programme can be key in the CE transition. Given the urgency of environmental problems, we underline the importance of the adoption of Keynesian expansionary “green mission oriented” fiscal policies with the purpose of allowing the triggering of a virtuous circle of sustainable welfare involving the Green New deal and the transition to CE. At the basis of such virtuous circle, we propose a new paradigm based on a revisited Keynesian paradigm and models of economy within the framework of Genovesi’s “civil economy” that entails an active role and responsibility of all the societal actors (consumers, companies and institutions). In this view, the “spirit” of Keynes in the economy, policy and society could be appreciated once more and be extremely useful along with other scholars’ contributions in accelerating the CE transition and a more sustainable development.
Highlights
Unprecedented and severe environmental problems such as resource scarcity and climate change are challenging worldwide economies, societal assets and well-being [1]
We evaluated the adoption of the Global Green New Deal including a case study of Italy for the purpose of suggesting how that topical political programme can be key in the circular economy (CE) transition
The Keynesian paradigm mainly adopted in industrialised countries after the Second World War lead to the creation of the welfare state and a period of high economic growth, employments rates and increased well-being in a context of growing use of natural resources
Summary
Unprecedented and severe environmental problems such as resource scarcity and climate change are challenging worldwide economies, societal assets and well-being [1]. It is established that the great international economic crisis of the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s and the recession of 2008 were caused by an excess of deregulation, but many more are the phenomena that today put at risk the global economic system dominated by the neoliberalism: the huge increase in income and wealth inequalities, the pollution that is causing the climate change, a reduced welfare system, the high increase in the size of businesses [40, 52,53,54] In this view, the current emphasis would be on revisiting the Keynesian liberalism in light of the historical political facts [21] and current multiple challenges along with the development of alternative models under the umbrella of the so-called “civil economy” [58] where the economic agents and in particular consumers [59] play an active role in the society in terms of positive responsibility of their environmental and social impacts [59]. For this to happen it should incorporate the circular economy, bioeconomy and renewable energies transitions, the protection and enhancement of biodiversity to be perceived in the whole society (e.g. in urban centres) and sectors (in particular in agriculture) as a precondition for a more durable and sustainable development and a reduction of carbon emissions into identified limits to fight climate change
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