Reflections About the Food–Energy–Water Nexus in a World Without Economic Growth—A Dynamic Multinational CGE Model-Based Thought Experiment

In response to the intensifying need to mitigate climate change and reduce the pressures on the earth’s natural resources, alternative economic (post growth) concepts begin to outstrip their role as niche concepts and are now frequently hypothesized to provide inevitable contributions to solving today’s sustainability challenges. Almost half a decade ago, Meadows et al. (The limits to growth. Universe Books, New York, 1972 [51]) instigated the discussion about “the limits to growth”, an idea which was later supported by the Brundtland Commission’s (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 1987 [94]) call for new growth models. More recently, authors such as Stiglitz et al. (Report by the commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress. Paris, 2009 [74]; Mismeasuring our lives: why GDP doesn’t add up. New Press, New York, 2010 [73]) or Tim Jackson have demanded a complete redefinition of prosperity with the objective to decouple human welfare from the material impact on the environment (Jackson in Prosperity without growth. Earthscan, London, 2009 [37]). This discussion about new models of prosperity often finds itself under the label of the “green economy” or the “food–energy–water nexus” (FEW nexus) addressing the core sectors of this transformation process. In the developed model, these new ideas are integrated in an intertemporal dynamic multinational general equilibrium model (GE model). The GE model consists of four countries (A, B, C, D) with three economic sectors (FEW, households, industry) each. We discuss the economic effects of our GE model approach in four growth scenarios for the four countries: Country A follows a zero-growth scenario, countries B and C grow by moderate rates of 1.2% and 1.9%, respectively, and country D is on a de-growth pathway (−1.3%). This model approach reveals the possible socio-economic consequences and alterations of various growth models for the FEW nexus sector, as well as the other economic sectors of the four countries.