CASSE Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Work Less, Study More, and Forget About GDP

August 24, 2023/8 Comments/in Economic Growth, Greg Mikkelson, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Trends in human health have recently decoupled from GDP growth throughout the world. In other words, health improvement no longer tracks economic expansion. Meanwhile, environmental degradation remains firmly coupled to economic growth. As damages from economic growth mount globally, and as benefits fade, the case against further growth is stronger every day.

Within the USA, the case against economic growth is especially compelling, and not just because of the country’s massively disproportionate contribution to global ecological breakdown.

Steady-State Talking Points for Democrats and Republicans

June 22, 2023/2 Comments/in Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

Limits to growth are all around us. Global heating, resource shortages, and biodiversity collapse are linked at the hip with stagnating productivity, inflation, and crippling debt. Little by little, citizens and politicians are waking up to ecological limits and the economic linkages.

The awakening is painfully slow for those who have long lamented society’s obsession with growth. After all, economic growth entails a growing human population and ecological footprint,

Limits to Wealth = Limits to Growth

June 8, 2023/8 Comments/in Daniel Wortel-London, Economic Policy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wealth /by Gary Gardner

by Daniel Wortel-London

Inequality threatens people and planet alike. Billions struggle to make ends meet while a tiny minority grows fabulously wealthy. At the same time, the conspicuous consumption of the wealthy and the waste they generate takes an enormous environmental toll. The intertwining of social and environmental damage suggests that standard fixes for inequality are inadequate.

Herman Daly thought that waste from the wealthy could not be ended through redistributive taxation alone.

Food: Abundant for How Long?

June 1, 2023/6 Comments/in Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

Global food production today is cornucopian: More food, of greater diversity, is available to more people in more places than at any time in human history. At the same time, this food abundance has a dark underbelly. Some 828 million people—nearly ten percent of the human family—are chronically hungry, and two billion people lack critical micronutrients such as Vitamin A and iron. This juxtaposition of increasing abundance and chronic scarcity might suggest that ending hunger simply requires extending 20th century agricultural success to the entire human family.

Selling the Steady State Economy

May 5, 2023/16 Comments/in Gary Gardner, Postgrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

The looks I get are familiar at this point: the blank stare screaming What do you mean, a no-growth economy? The frown of doubt that silently demands, Are you crazy? This is how skepticism about degrowth and steady-state economics manifests in my own life.

The work of a steady-state proponent is not for the faint of heart, to be sure. Steady state economies are sorely needed today but are far from being widely understood,

“I Know You’re Malthusian, But What Am I?”

April 20, 2023/20 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by John Mirisch

Times are evidently rough for our natalist, growthmaniac friends.

More people than ever are questioning their agenda of increasing the planet’s population beyond the current 8 billion people (double the level of less than fifty years ago) in the name of “progress” and profit. Yet the growthmaniacs’ only response to anyone who links human population and ecological overshoot is to scream “Malthus!” at the top of their lungs (although some Marvel fanboy growthmaniacs have been known to respond “Thanos!” instead).

Lesson from a Failed Bank: Only One Real Start-Up

March 23, 2023/7 Comments/in Banking, Brian Czech, Corporate Reform, Monetary Policy, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

Banks are macroeconomic mirrors. They reflect the activity of the real economy. If the economy is growing, so are the banks, starting with the Federal Reserve and its regional banks, all the way out to tiny First Michigan Bank, Oakwood Bank (the smallest bank in bank-laden Texas), and the patriotically named Citizens Bank of Americus (Georgia).

Not only do the banks,

Bulldozing the Planet

March 16, 2023/5 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Greg Mikkelson, Materials use, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Just as it does for a certain “old man on a green bike,” my commitment to car-free travel often drives me to greater levels of exercise, and more vivid experiences of nature, than one would get behind the wheel of a car. Unfortunately, economic growth has progressively degraded one such experience. Trips to my partner’s lake cottage begin with a commuter train in Montréal and end with an hour-long walk on a dirt road through the countryside.

Degrowth in a Green-Growth World

March 9, 2023/21 Comments/in Climate Change, Degrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Gary Gardner

by Rosalie Bull

I’m having an ongoing conversation with a friend about the merits and drawbacks of degrowth as a climate action strategy. She is easily the most astute climate thinker I know, with insights available only to those deeply immersed in the nuances of climate finance and decarbonization. She’s wary of the degrowth movement, as are many prominent players in the climate transition. She views it as an unhelpful distraction from humanity’s efforts to grapple with the climate crisis.

Happiness Matters, Even in a Steady State Economy! Part 2: Flourishing Life

March 2, 2023/7 Comments/in Postgrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Orsolya Lelkes

Happiness matters. The quest for happiness is an elementary life force and an inherent part of steady state economies. Many fear that reducing material consumption will bring a decline in happiness. We do not like to lose what we already have. Recession and income loss tend to hurt.

On the other hand, voluntary adjustment of priorities in life may boost well-being, as a simpler life might deliver more of what many are missing: health,

Posts

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

by Brian Czech

by Daniel Wortel-London

by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

by John Mirisch

by Brian Czech

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

by Rosalie Bull