DeFi and degrowth mark two extremes in fixing capitalism

At one extreme lies the philosophy of degrowth. Fear of a climate catastrophe as and signs that critical infrastructure is already buckling under record temperatures have galvanized calls to curb economic growth and consumption habits to cut carbon-dioxide emissions faster. The impact of lockdowns on emissions in 2020 has given this 1970s-era movement renewed relevance. In Spain, where a 2016 poll found 37% of people would prefer ignoring or stopping growth to help the environment, a member of the ruling coalition recently backed degrowth as a policy.

At the opposite end is the libertarian ideology behind cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi). Inspired by the financial crisis 15 years ago, it rejects centralized authorities like banking systems and governments as obstacles to wealth and prosperity, promoting instead an ideal world of semi-anonymous networks that wouldnt need trusted third parties.

Covid fuelled this doom-laden cypherpunk narrative, warning frustrated locked-down traders they were running out of time to flee hyperinflation and economic mismanagement by elites. The results have been visibly toxicfrom hacks and fraud to energy waste and misguided speculationyet evangelists continue to promise future rewards to those who keep the faith.

Degrowth and DeFi are different movements with different histories, but theyre becoming increasingly identifiable as the new economic rebellions of our time, as Venezuelan-British economist Carlota Perez puts it. Degrowthers want to get rid of capitalists, and crypto fans want to get rid of the state,” she told French magazine LExpress in June, calling instead for a redistribution of economic and technological gains to reduce inequality.

Perez has a point. Degrowthers are right to attack unsustainable consumption habits and the slow speed of emissions cuts. But they downplay the ability of investment and innovation to do more with less, such as by increasing the lifespan of goods while reducing their carbon footprint. Government policy and subsidies are critical for decarbonization, but a total command system isnt a panacea: The silver lining of the pandemic wasnt the sight of societies grinding to a halt, but the public-private moonshot development of mRNA vaccines.

The other issue is political. If most governments are in little hurry to offer up degrowth as a policy for voters, its partly because its difficult to see how a state deprived of growth and resources could ensure they are distributed. Witness the recent angry reaction of several countries, like Spain, to the European Commissions demand for a 15% EU-wide cut in gas consumption, seen as an unfair request that southern European societies de-grow a little to help Germany avoid de-growing a lot. Social cohesion matters.

As for crypto and DeFi, even if theres truth in the perception that the financial system is rife with self-dealing and inefficiencies, knocking out the guardrails and central authority is surely a recipe for even more ruinous inequality. The boom-and-bust volatility of crypto has compounded, not limited, the effects of inflation.

Just as degrowthers ignore the natural urge for status and advancement, DeFiers ignore the natural urge of bad actors to exploit unregulated systems. Flawed utopias are not just a Gen-Z thing. The end of the Cold War was marked by faith in free markets end of history” while the Davos sets attachment to stakeholder capitalism” has been humbled by ESG greenwashing.

Better counter-narratives can be found in economist Alessio Terzis book Growth For Good, which calls for an energy transition that doesnt reject growth, but does involve more government support, international coordination and social cohesion to ensure nobody gets left behind.

Or, as Brazilian video game developer Mark Venturelli recently put it, the solution to financial inequality shouldnt be wasting country-sized amounts of energy trying to bypass trusted intermediaries, but to come up with more trusted and human-centric ones instead. Central-bank-issued digital currencies might offer such benefits, as economist Eswar Prasad has pointed out.

This may not amount to a satisfying brick through the proverbial window, but its reminiscent of one description of Perezs worldview as the economics of hope.” And if theres one thing the young have in greater supply than their elders, it is optimism.

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering digital currencies, the European Union and France.

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