The Great Deceleration
The ‘Great Acceleration’ of economic activity in the past 60 years has led to a series of interlocking crises. Here’s why a Great Deceleration is necessary for us “to live again with affection and beauty on this earth.”
economic growth
The Climate Crisis and Economic Policy Choices
A major issue in climate economics is whether it is possible to halt the growth in carbon emissions and to achieve, instead, a rapid reduction.
Make Finance the Servant, not the Master
We should be mindful, as ecological economist Herman Daly once remarked, that policy-making in taxation, greenhouse gas emissions, pensions, criminal justice, welfare, etc, requires boundaries.
Donald Trump and the USA’s Growth and Indebtedness
During 2008 to 2015 the ratio of GDP growth to increase in debt sank closer to 1:1. This shows that the economic policy of the time was catastrophic. There was no capacity for increasing the wages of the middle class in the USA.
The Fallacy of Economic Growth
Political elites, both on the Right and on the Left, seem to agree on the necessity of constant economic growth, even at the cost of ecological catastrophe. They say we need growth in order to deal with present social problems, but can it be that this narrative is a fallacy?
The Most Important and Misleading Assumption in the World
Why should we make policy using economic models that don’t reflect what should be obvious to a third-grader?
Macro and Climate Economics: It’s Time to Talk about the “Elephant in the Room”
Economic growth…in macroeconomic models is the so-called elephant in the room that, unfortunately, almost no one talks about or seeks to improve.
Fantasies of “Socialism with an iPad”?: Inventing the Future by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams: Review
Sometimes you read a book that helps to crystalize your thinking, not because you agree with it, but because you don’t.
The Discrete Charm of Economic Growth
We face the real possibility that, far from a case in which we are the principals and those in charge of the economy are honest agents — with the state reflecting the spontaneous preferences of the public and the corporate economy functioning as a sort of “dollar democracy” — the actual state of affairs is one of the alleged “agents” pursuing interests of their own and using the “principals” as means to an end.
China: Is peak coal part of its problem?
Why would a country selectively decide to slow down the growth of the fuel that has made its current “boom” possible?
Worrying Deceleration In The Growth Rate of Wind & Solar
Scale and complexity issues are becoming a significant impediment to maintaining wind and solar growth rates.
Why the Economy Should Stop Growing—And Just Grow Up
It is time to reframe the debate to recognize that we have pushed growth in material consumption beyond Earth’s environmental limits.