We need new solutions to the global crisis, ones that will not repeat the errors of the past. Scotland can still flourish, write Tim Jackson and Jan Bebbington , but only if we build a sustainable future What can the current economic crisis teach us about the foundations of our economic system? For the past five decades, the pursuit of economic growth has been the single most important policy goal across the world. Is it finally time to kill the myth that - financial crises aside - growth will continue indefinitely?

Too many politicians are not ready to accept that this crisis is a symptom of a more fundamental problem. The solution to the recession, we are told, is taking whatever action is required to get economic growth back into action. Today, however, we face different problems than in past recessions and we need a different solution.

The current global recession, a widening gap between rich and poor, and a growing environmental crisis make this the time to forge a new economic system. This economic system must have the mechanisms to avoid the boom and bust associated with our reliance on growth.

Using this economic crisis for some fresh thinking and restructuring is not just window-dressing, but central to ensuring we are better prepared for problems in the future. Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We are in danger of proving Einstein right if we expect to be able to put economic growth back on track but end up in a different place.

The Scottish Government has a single purpose of "creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth". Now is probably a good time to look at this again, from our new perspective. There are two parts to this aim: the first is to see a Scotland with all Scots being able to flourish. The second part is the chosen remedy: that we increase sustainable economic growth.

Yet if you ask many people inside or close to government what this purpose is, they will tell you it is "sustainable economic growth". Government appears to be focused on the means rather than the end.

It's certainly good news that Scotland is looking to secure economic growth that takes account of inequality and environmental limits. But government needs to look more carefully at whether more growth necessarily creates more opportunities, or instead narrows our window of opportunity to build a better Scotland.

Beyond that, though, the government may just be on to something with this idea of a "flourishing Scotland", though it has perhaps yet to realise the significance of its insight.

This point has been underlined by a major new report from the Sustainable Development Commission called Prosperity Without Growth? The report analyses the relationship between economic growth, the growing environmental crisis and "social recession", and calls for a new vision of prosperity based on providing capabilities for flourishing.

Today the global economy is almost five times the size it was 50 years ago. But the benefits of growth have been distributed very unequally, with one-fifth of the world's population sharing just 2% of global income. Even in developed countries, huge gaps remain in wealth and wellbeing between rich and poor. The myth of growth has failed us. It has failed the two billion people who still live on less than $2 a day. It has failed the fragile ecological systems on which we depend for survival. It has failed, spectacularly, in its own terms, to provide economic stability and secure people's livelihoods. Economic growth cannot be the sole objective for politicians wanting a more prosperous society for all.

We find ourselves faced with the imminent end of the era of cheap oil, the prospect (beyond the recent bubble) of steadily rising commodity prices, the degradation of forests, lakes and soils, conflicts over land use, water quality, fishing rights and the momentous challenge of stabilising concentrations of carbon in the global atmosphere. And we face these tasks with an economy that is fundamentally broken and in desperate need of renewal. Modern economy is structurally reliant on economic growth for its stability. When growth falters - as it has done recently - politicians panic, businesses struggle to survive, people lose their jobs and sometimes their homes.

In these circumstances, a return to business as usual is not an option. Economic recovery is vital; protecting people's jobs - and creating new ones - is absolutely essential. But we also stand in urgent need of a renewed sense of shared prosperity and we need a renewed commitment to fairness and flourishing in a finite world.

The current economic crisis is going to be painful for Scotland, but we are not entirely at the mercy of international economic turbulence. In Prosperity Without Growth?, the SDC is suggesting a number of practical steps the Scottish Government can take to give Scotland a leading role in turning this crisis into an opportunity to build a more stable economy.

We would like to challenge the Scottish Government to build a sustainable low-carbon economy; an economy ensuring national and local planning policies and transport investment are fully aligned with these objectives; an economy sharing the available work and improving the work/life balance, instead of increasing stress among the haves and the have-nots; an economy that can tackle head-on the huge divide between the richest and poorest - as demonstrated by health, education and life expectancy; an economy that only grows in clean technologies and drives change through a radical Climate Change Bill. This is not going to happen if the focus stays on economic growth without looking at the nature of that growth.

The current crisis does offer a number of opportunities for brave politicians to redefine "prosperity" in line with evidence about what contributes to people's wellbeing. The possibility that Scotland can flourish, and at the same time consume less, is an intriguing one. It would be foolish to think that it will be easy to achieve. But it should not be given up lightly. It offers the best prospect we have for lasting prosperity.

Professor Tim Jackson is Economics Commissioner, Sustainable Development Commission; and Professor Jan Bebbington is vice-chair, Sustainable Development Commission, Scotland.