Measuring progress towards a socially sustainable steady state economy

Within this thesis, I investigate how progress towards a socially sustainable
steady state economy could be measured at the national scale. Following a review of four possible approaches, I suggest that separate biophysical and social
indicators represent the best approach, but that a unifying conceptual framework
is required to choose appropriate indicators and interpret the relationships between them. I propose a framework based on ends and means, and a set of bio-
physical and social indicators within this framework. The biophysical indicators
are derived from Herman Daly's definition of a steady state economy, and measure the major stocks and flows in the economy-environment system. The social
indicators are based on the stated goals of the degrowth moment, and measure
the functioning of the socio-economic system, and how effectively it delivers
human well-being.
I use these indicators to measure how close -180 countries are to the idea of
a steady state economy over a ten-year time period (1997-2007), and explore
whether there is any relationship between a country's proximity to such an economy and its overall social performance. I find that the majority of countries ~
the world are biophysical growth economies, although a small number of countries achieve biophysical stability over the analysis period (e.g. Denmark, France,
Japan, Poland, Romania, and the United States). In general, I find that countries
with stable stocks and flows perform better on social indicators than countries
with either growing or de growing stocks and flows. However, I also find that
social performance is higher in countries with greater per capita resource use.
Taken together, these findings suggest that while a biophysically stable economy
may be socially sustainable, the level of resource use required for a "good life"
may be too high to extend to all people on the planet without surpassing ecological limits.