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One of the two components of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 is "economic growth", a term which people in the 21st century are quite familiar with. The question of growth, or the lack thereof, has often featured prominently in political debates, scholarly writings, as well as popular media. Nevertheless, sustained economic growth was only a recent phenomenon in human history. The world economy remained stagnant throughout the first 1800 years in the Common Era and started to grow exponentially after that. 1Measured by international dollars in 1990, the world has seen more than 5 times increase in population in the last two centuries, but the real GDP has increased by more than 700 times.

This paper examines the processes of formulation of UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) – 'Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns' – and its targets and indicators. We argue that business interests have steered its narrative of sustainable growth. The outcome of the SDG 12 negotiations reflects a production- and design-centered perspective that emerged in the 1990s and has a business-friendly regulatory approach and faith in solutions through new technologies. We show how the targets and indicators emerged in debates between national governments, UN agencies, civil society and private sector organizations – and how they reflect both the political process and technical and practical considerations in translation of a broad concept into the SDG format. While the emergence of SDG 12 as a standalone goal stems from a push by developing countries to build pressure on developed countries, and its presence may open space for attention to this area in the future, many of its targets were watered down and left vague. The indicators to measure progress on the targets further narrow the scope and ambition of Goal 12, whose current content does not adequately reflect earlier more transformative conceptualizations of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

The second half of the 1940s and the 1950s was simultaneously the period of impact of the Marshall Plan on the Portuguese economy and the epoch of take-off of modern economic growth in Portugal. This process has been studied from a macroeconomic perspective, but not from a business point of view. This is the purpose of this paper, which examines the formation of new firms, and studies the scale, scope, performance, ownership, structure and strategy of a sample of the largest firms. It shows how the Marshall aid and the government commitment to promoting economic growth and sovereignty over a vast colonial empire led to cooperation with family firms through regulation, subsidies and planning. The related and unrelated diversified-business character of informal business groups escapes Chandler's model and his scale and scope economies, but succeeded in providing safety and mutual assistance among firms to face an increasingly competitive world. ; authorsversion ; published

WOS:000326976400001 ; This paper analyzes the Portuguese short-run business cycles over the last 150 years and presents the multidimensional scaling (MDS) for visualizing the results. The analytical and numerical assessment of this long-run perspective reveals periods with close connections between the macroeconomic variables related to government accounts equilibrium, balance of payments equilibrium, and economic growth. The MDS method is adopted for a quantitative statistical analysis. In this way, similarity clusters of several historical periods emerge in the MDS maps, namely, in identifying similarities and dissimilarities that identify periods of prosperity and crises, growth, and stagnation. Such features are major aspects of collective national achievement, to which can be associated the impact of international problems such as the World Wars, the Great Depression, or the current global financial crisis, as well as national events in the context of broad political blueprints for the Portuguese society in the rising globalization process. ; publishersversion ; published

UID/CPO/04627/2013 ; This paper presents an in-depth case study of governmental decision-making in Portugal from 2010 to 2015. To obtain a full understanding of what really happened behind the closed doors of international meetings, we triangulated different types of data: face-to-face interviews with policy-makers, international lenders and Trade Union representatives; investigations by journalists; and IMF and EU official documents. Lastly, we analyze the official discourses of both the former and current Prime Ministers. We show that the sovereign debt crisis and the bailout have strengthened executives' independence from other national actors. The perceived need for 'credibility' to avoid a 'negative' reaction from the markets - later associated with the conditions of the bailout - concurrently gave the executives a legitimate justification to concentrate power in their hands and a strong argument to counter the opponents of their proposed reforms. Consequently, Portuguese ministers– when they favored policies that were in congruence with those supported by international actors – were able to use the crisis to advance their own agenda. When they disagreed with Troika representatives, ministers and international lenders engaged in a negotiating process, the final outcome of which depended on the actors' bargaining powers. Finally, contrary to what we expected, we did not find a strong gap between Prime Ministers' official discourse and this state of affairs – thus showing limited evidence of discursive depolitization. ; publishersversion ; published

his article critically examines and problematises the 'taken for granted' status of economic growth within modern politics and political economy. It views economic growth is an ideology and structural interest of the capitalist state, one that serves the interests of a specific class or elite rather than, beyond a threshold, the interests of a majority in society. The article outlines some of the historical and institutional origins of economic growth as a core state imperative. It focuses on the immediate post-WW2 period, the Cold War, and the role of the OECD (and its predecessor the OEEC) in systematically disseminating and promoting GDP growth in Western European countries as a key part of the US led competition of the 'free capitalist world' against the Communist bloc. The article suggests that economic growth is s a powerful idea that has become a keystone of the (initially Keynesian-based) political ideology of growth, which in turn enabled and empowered state and supra-state institutions, and acted as a legitimating ideology throughout capitalist societies.

UID/ANT/04038/2013 ; The intertwining of tradition and modernity is a rooted discussion within the Portuguese history of architecture since the mid-twentieth century. From then on, the dichotomisation of erudite and vernacular architectures, urban and rural cultures and settings, nationalist and universalistic values, seems to have been debated and reviewed. This paper aims to contribute to such de-essentialisation processes by focusing on the Portuguese Estado Novo project of inner colonisation conducted by the Junta de Colonização Interna (1936-1974), and examining the dialogues and frictions between its traditional and modern ideals and accomplishments as spatialised in one very particular colony – Pegões. On the one hand, the paper ponders upon the Portuguese colonisation's neo-physiocratic basis, locating the tradition-modernity binomial in the intent to modernise the agrarian world while perpetuating its traditional lifestyle, simultaneously fostering an economic development, social control and national identity. On the other hand, the paper draws upon the laboratorial colony of Pegões, which was the first, the biggest and the only one built in Southern Portugal, to more thickly analyse the colonisation's politics and fulfilments, and its understanding and uses of traditional and modernist ideals, aesthetics and representations. Special attention is given to the dialectics between political and economic agencies, social negotiations, embodied experiences, and meanings and affections, by looking into the official-written history of the colony and emotional-sensory memory of its settlers. This approach results from the work carried out within the scope of MODSCAPES research project (funded by HERA Uses of the Past), notably in what concerns its research line on the memories and perceptions of European colonisation policies, schemes and resulting landscapes. ; publishersversion ; published

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the private sector plays a key role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After all, sustainable and inclusive economic growth is essential to enable more people to participate in global prosperity. Encouraging entrepreneurship and job creation are key to SDG 8, as are effective measures to eradicate forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking. Since more than 90 percent of jobs are created by the private sector, more attention must be paid to entrepreneurs that help create dynamic and responsible enterprises that often generate positive externalities for society and the environment through investments in scalable innovations and a commitment to local embeddedness. As such, they help lift people out of poverty through new and relatively well-paid jobs and enable local economies to become more sustainable through global value chain integration. read less Transitioning to Decent Work and Economic Growth explores the prospects for SDG 8 in the Global South as well as the Global North. It especially considers the positive role the private sector may play as an enabler of human rights, creator of decent work and engine for inclusive development in different contexts. Further, it examines how the institutional environment can facilitate economic change, which may lead to social empowerment and enhanced economic opportunities. A key question the volume explores, is how—in an entrepreneurial context—innovation and scientific knowledge contribute to the creation of scalable innovation that help to de-couple economic growth from the use of natural resources. Transitioning to Decent Work and Economic Growth is part of MDPI's new Open Access book series Transitioning to Sustainability. With this series, MDPI pursues environmentally and socially relevant research which contributes to efforts toward a sustainable world. Transitioning to Sustainability aims to add to the conversation about regional and global sustainable development according to the 17 SDGs. Set to be published in 2020/2021, the book series is intended to reach beyond disciplinary, even academic boundaries.

Intro; SDG8 -- Sustainable Economic Growth and Decent Work for All; Contents; List of Figures and Tables; About the Authors; Introduction to SDG 8 Economic Growth and Decent Work for All; Chapter 1: Sustainable Development Goal 8 in Context; Introduction; Millennium Development Goals; Sustainable Development Goals; Sustainable Development Goal 8; Components of SDG 8; SDG 8 and the SDGs; Potential Emerging Issues; Summary; Chapter 2: Economic Growth; Introduction; Measuring Economic Growth; Economic Growth and Energy Production; Energy Production and Climate Change; Decoupling Growth

Governments around the world are adopting inclusive growth agendas. The ambition to align economic growth ambitions with broader-based social benefits is increasingly embraced by corporations to limit the 'negative externalities' and enhance the 'positive externalities' of their operations. Therefore, micro-level corporate strategies and macro-level national ambitions meet at the meso-level of networks and clusters. This requires societal spheres to collaborate and search for alternative governance constellations. In this discourse, port development is only recently receiving attention. In March 2018, ports around the world signed the World Ports Sustainability Program declaration, which aims to contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), whilst a number of national port (master) plans have started to include social along with environmental standards. Extant studies on partnering and stakeholder inclusion in port development are proliferating but are primarily aimed at environmental rather than social (inclusion) issues. This paper adopts an exploratory research design to consider conditions for inclusive port development. A novel taxonomy considers port development as a driver for inclusive growth, where partnerships are the missing link between micro-level business strategies and macro-level effects in the port region and economy at large. This paper shows the first findings and delineates areas for further research.

Abstract. In his book ''The Politics of Happiness'' Derek Bok argues that happiness should be a goal in public policy. He presents an inventory of social problems in the US with negative effects on happiness, like inadequate education, chronic pain, sleep disorders, depressions, divorce, single-parent families, and financial hardship. He presents interesting options to deal with these problems. He also pays attention to some more general happiness-issues for US-policymakers, like the question of economic growth without happiness and the reputation of the US-government. Bok's findings are consistent with available data about the high levels of negative feelings in the US: stress, depressions, sadness, anger and worry. His message is quite clear: policy-makers can use the findings of happiness-research to improve their decisions. Keywords Economic growth Education Financial Government

Logistics – the services, knowledge, and infrastructure that allow for the free movement of goods and people – is now recognized as a key driver of competitiveness and economic development. Efficient logistics systems are a precondition for regions, countries, cities, and businesses to participate in the global economy, boost growth, and improve livelihoods. Policy making has turned its attention to sustainable growth paths, valuing scarce resources, minimizing environmental impacts, and allowing economies to prosper across generations. In this new integrated vision of development, sustainable logistics is a key nexus. To improve sustainable logistics practices in the developing world, private sector technologies and innovations, as well as governmental policies and academic knowledge, need to be brought together. The government of the Netherlands and the World Bank have taken a first step in this direction and established the first Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Sustainable Logistics (MDTF-SL) in September 2013.