Abstract
This paper explores the hypothesis that slow growth rates lead to rising inequality. This case has been made most notably by French economist Thomas Piketty. If true, this hypothesis would pose serious challenges to the project of achieving Prosperity without Growth or meeting the ambitions of those who call for an intentional slowing down of growth on ecological grounds. The paper describes a simple four-sector, demand-driven model of Savings, Inequality and Growth in a MAcroeconomic framework (SIGMA) with exogenous growth and net savings rates. SIGMA is used to examine the evolution of inequality in the context of declining economic growth. Contrary to the general hypothesis, we find that inequality does not necessarily increase as growth slows down. In fact, there are certain conditions under which inequality can be reduced significantly, or even entirely eliminated, as growth declines. The paper discusses the implications of this finding for questions of employment, government policy and the politics of de-growth.