The Impact of Degrowth on the Global South

Abstract

This research aims to provide thought about the impact of degrowth on the Global South. It focuses on the conditions under which degrowth will be beneficial for those countries. We study the current economic dependency of the Global South on the Global North in order to estimate what the impact of GDP decline in rich countries would be on poverty indicators in lower income countries using the OLS panel fixed effect model. The sample includes 91 low and lower-middle-income countries on the period 2015-2020. Our results suggest that the economic health of the Global South is currently dependent on exports to high-income countries. In the current state of the world, GDP decline in rich countries could lead to an increase in the prevalence of undernourishment in lower income countries. This indicates that if the degrowth project fails to bring neo-colonial dependencies to an end and to establish policies that address the vulnerabilities of the Global South, it might have disastrous impacts on those populations.