Icarus Economics: Why rich economies are struggling – and how to fix them - John Rapley

Every leader comes to power promising growth: think back to the campaigns of Boris, Truss, Sunak, Starmer, Trump. Yet real-term income hasn’t improved in the UK since 2008. Across the West, growth has stagnated for well over a decade, leading to cost-of-living crises, political instability and rising social tensions. Is real economic growth still possible? And with the climate emergency accelerating beyond repair, should we still be pushing for it? Acclaimed economist John Rapley, author of Icarus Economics, argues that the problem of growth is inherently tied up with the climate crisis. We often assume that poor countries will bear the brunt of climate change, pandemics and other exogenous shocks, but John will argue the opposite: western societies have more wealth and capital to lose and are less inherently resilient. Join John as he reveals how rich countries can grow their own economies by helping poor countries to decarbonise - and in the process, mitigate the effects of climate change.