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Economic science often invites us to wish for growth. It is presented as the solution to unemployment, the savior of public finances, and the engine of a better quality of life. But a moment of honest reflection reveals a more complex picture. Pollution, the depletion of natural resources , the psychological distress that often accompanies a consumerist lifestyle , and the frantic production of goods destined for the scrapheap of vanity—all these effects suggest something deeply flawed in the blind idolatry of growth. Yet, the defense of " degrowth " seems equally senseless. We must produce wealth to live, to thrive, to heal the sick, and to educate the young. To be against all growth is to be against life itself. The real choice, then, is not between growth and degrowth. It is a foolish dichotomy. What we truly want is the growth of the good and the degrowth of the bad. We want more of what genuinely enhances human well-being and less of what diminishes it. But this rai...