Sunday, January 30, 2011

Economic Growth: A Means to THE End?

Economic growth is a very dangerous idea in our current global society. The desire for greater economic growth is engrained in how countries and people operate today. Economic growth is seen as the cure for all of the world’s ills, such as poverty, debt and limited freedoms as mentioned by Homer-Dixon. Economic growth is argued as the solution to any of our planets environmental problems by market liberals. This idea, Homer-Dixon argues, is erroneous and dangerous to the future of our planet.

Market liberals’ reliance on economic growth as the means to repairing environmental damage is based in the assumptions of the environmental Kuznets curve and growth leading to innovation. Market liberals use the “greening” of Western economies as the proof of these assumptions. Homer-Dixon is arguing against the limited idea of economic growth leading to endless innovation and improvement. New technologies in natural resource extraction have not seen improved yields. Rather the decreasing yields per energy input, shown by Homer-Dixon, create a sense that the earth’s natural resources are diminishing.

The environmental Kuznet’s curve is a model that market liberals hold dear. The idea that continued economic growth will lead to decreases in emissions is something they strongly advocate. This model is severely faulted. For starters, it is based on an economic model that does not even hold true for inequality measures, its original intention. Secondly, it is the population of the richest, most developed countries that produce significantly more emissions per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Homer-Dixon is arguing against the market liberal approach. At the same time he is expressing the attachment that society has with this growth-focused approach.

Nick

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