Fiscal Futures of the Green Economy: Differing Ideological Perspectives and Policy Implications
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: As the global ecological crisis deepens, governments are increasingly deploying fiscal instruments, such as carbon taxes, green bonds, and public investment schemes to facilitate a transition to a Green Economy. However, mainstream economic discourse often treats these instruments as neutral technical fixes, ignoring the profound ideological divergences that determine their design and legitimacy. This paper challenges this technocratic illusion by mapping the “fiscal futures” envisioned by six distinct schools of thought: Ecological Modernization, Green Keynesianism, Degrowth, Eco-Marxism, Post-Development, and Buen Vivir. Employing a Comparative Political Economy (CPE) framework, the study constructs a five-dimensional analytical matrix to examine how these paradigms conceptualize: (1) the ontology of economic growth, (2) the valuation of nature, (3) the fiscal toolkit, (4) the role of the state, and (5) the strategic goal of the transition. The analysis contrasts Reformist market-based strategies with Transformative post-growth visions, revealing a “feasibility-necessity paradox” where politically feasible measures are ecologically insufficient, while Western-centric models risk reinforcing global inequalities. The paper concludes that a successful transition requires a “two-track” fiscal strategy: utilizing Green Keynesian stimulus to build low-carbon infrastructure in the short term, while introducing post-growth stabilizers to reduce structural growth dependency in the long term.
DOI: 10.55302/ed2628140v
Institution: Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7160665395