Well‐Being Economy in the Visegrad Countries: Lessons for Degrowth‐Oriented Industrial Policy

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a transdisciplinary approach to design future degrowth‐oriented industrial policies in pursuing a well‐being economy in the case of a specific growth model. Specifically, we show that the case of the Visegrad countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, V4s) is a clarion call for the degrowth literature to be much more modest and self‐critical. It addresses the puzzling question of whether the future degrowth policies of the V4s are influenced by their unique industrialization path, which has historically relied on foreign capital. It proposes a transdisciplinary framework (based on political economy and ecological economics) to root degrowth‐compatible industrial policies for the degrowth transition. It then analyzes the V4s' capital‐dependent growth models historically to improve degrowth‐oriented industrial policy research. It concludes with implications for future study on degrowth‐oriented industrial policy, based on V4s' experience anticipated to remain in a wayward FDI‐dependent mode, to make the well‐being economy‐seeking endeavor more scientifically sound.