A NO-GROWTHWORLD IS INEVITABLE
But our kids, and their kids, are going to live in a very different growth – or rather, no-growth – world. make a tortoise seem like the hare. But our kids, and their kids, are going to live in a very different growth – or rather, no-growth – world. old power utility shares, which generated a comfortable dividend (thanks to strong cash flow), but the value of the underlying assets (and the share price) didn’t change much. For the global economy, this shift – from growth to cash flow, framed in stock terms – isn’t going to happen next year... or maybe even this decade. Demographics move at a pace that And though it’s difficult to conceive of now – in our growth-worship day and age – that will actually be a good thing... Why No Growth Is Good, Reason No. 1: MORE TO GO AROUND As demographer Chamie explained, slower – or no – population growth...
environmental degradation, poverty, homelessness, extreme socio-economic inequalities and human rights abuses. Many of the greatest pressures that humankind faces are, indirectly or directly, a function of one key dynamic: More and more, and too many, people. Every day, nearly a quarter of a million new humans are added to the global population. That further strains the ever-escalating demand on resources – both natural and man-made. Simply by treading demographic water, there would be more to go around for everyone who’s already here on earth. Why No Growth Is Good, Reason No. 2: A HEALTHIER MOTHER EARTH In late 2019, a group of 11,500 scientists co-signed a paper in the research journal BioScience declaring a “climate emergency.” One of the measures they proposed to address it was a re-think of economic growth... Our goals need to shift from GDP growth and the pursuit of affluence toward sustaining ecosystems and improving human well-being by prioritizing basic needs and reducing inequality.
... will make it far easier to address problems such as climate change,
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July 2021
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