Benjamin Kunkel speaking on ‘Dilemmas of the Stationary State’

What would it mean, in the 21st century, for economic growth to come to an end? Why might this happen? Is a growthless or steady-state economy to be avoided—or, instead, pursued—at all costs? Is it true, as Schumpeter said, that “a stationary capitalism would be a contradictio in adjecto” or is a postgrowth capitalism perfectly feasible? The talk will hazard answers to these questions, and another: What are the prospects for a steady-state socialism or communism (or whatever you wish to call it)?

Benjamin Kunkel is a founding editor of n+1 magazine and the author of Indecision, a novel; Buzz, a play; and Utopia or Bust, a collection of essays about contemporary left economic and cultural theory. He writes for The London Review of Books, Dissent, Salvage, and other publications. He is at work on a book about the past and future of capitalism.