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

Prospects for 负增长 Toward a Steady State Economy in China

September 1, 2022/10 Comments/in Climate Change, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Poverty, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Yiran Cheng

China, as the world’s second-largest economy and a rising superpower, is an integral part of the discussion if a steady state economy is ever to be achieved at a global scale. China’s environmental impact grows by the day, yet serious consideration about intentionally slowing economic growth has seldom occurred, let alone the possibility of a sustained 负增长, the Mandarin translation of “degrowth”.

This is not to say China is oblivious to its environmental toll.

Heart Troubles: The Link between Cardiovascular Disease and GDP Growth

June 2, 2022/2 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Taylor Lange

Heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability across the world. The Global Burden of Disease Study covers ten specific cardiovascular diseases and designates rarer ailments in an “other” category. The most prevalent and deadly diseases are ischemic heart disease, stroke, and hypertensive heart disease. In 2019, cardiovascular disease lead to the deaths of 18.6 million people globally.

Morality in the Womb: More than Meets the Mass’s Eye

May 12, 2022/7 Comments/in Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Population, Poverty, Religion, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Max Kummerow

With the recent leaking of the draft decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the heated controversy over a woman’s right to abort—or voluntarily terminate—a pregnancy is again at the forefront of democratic discourse. At the heart of this debate are issues of morality and theology. Self-identified Christians make up 63 percent of the U.S. population, with Evangelical Protestants and Catholics representing an overwhelming portion of the “pro-life” camp.

Icebreakers in the Arctic: An Overlooked Environmental Concern

April 14, 2022/5 Comments/in Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Brian Czech

by Johanna Cohn

Global heating has a greater impact on the Arctic than the rest of the planet. In fact, the Arctic is warming at a rate almost twice the global average. This is due to Arctic ice’s high albedo, meaning the ice reflects a tremendous amount of sunlight into the atmosphere. As the ice melts, the sea water absorbs more sunlight than it reflects. The resulting water subsequently warms and evaporates,

Houston, We Have a Credit Problem

March 24, 2022/2 Comments/in Banking, Consumption, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Monetary Policy, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Neil Tracey

In 2021, China had around 30 million homes sitting vacant for extended periods. There’s enough unused housing in China to house around 80 million people, roughly the population of Germany. This isn’t “slack” in the market; there is little hope that these homes will someday find an occupant. These homes are bound to remain empty.

Indeed, most of these homes are simply held as financial assets;

The Silver Lining of the COVID-Caused Recession is Fading Fast

August 20, 2020/5 Comments/in Climate Change, Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Madeline Baker

From February to mid-April 2020, in an early and shocking stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, greenhouse gas emissions plummeted worldwide. Nowhere was the reduction more notable than in China, the country with the highest emissions. According to Lauri Myllyvirta, the lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by 25 percent from the end of January through mid-February. Also,

The Second Cold War?

May 21, 2020/0 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Brian Czech

By Brian Snyder

Over the past two months, there has been a great deal of talk about the environmental implications of the pandemic. Some have looked for glimmers of hope, others have predicted that we will shortly return to the status quo. I fear that the biggest outcome of the pandemic will not be its death toll nor its effects on the climate, but its impacts on geopolitics. Specifically, the deteriorating relationship between China and the USA may lead to a Second Cold War.

Normalizing Outbreaks in the Anthropocene: Growth Isn’t the Cure

March 10, 2020/4 Comments/in Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

Death rates. Infection rates. Handwashing. Handwringing.

May I re-frame the coronavirus conversation? Although the world is currently stunned by the rapid spread of this virus across the globe, we must understand that these kinds of outbreaks are simply going to happen more often in our climate-altered world, and they highlight the fragility of our growth-or-bust industrial system. But there is a silver lining: This moment requires industrial societies to emphasize wellbeing over GDP and to witness the vulnerability of global,

[Book Review] Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline

September 19, 2019/4 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Max Kummerow

In Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline (Crown Publishing Group, New York, 2019) Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson argue that population decline will bring many social and economic changes—some good, some bad. They assert that “In three decades, give or take…global population starts to decline.”

Note that their title is a bit misleading. World population will probably rise to over 10 billion before the slow decline would begin.

The World Fertility Transition: Moving Toward a Steady-State Population

May 29, 2019/1 Comment/in Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Max Kummerow

“There’s just too many of us and no one is talking about it.”
—Biologist Patrick Benson in Meera Subramanian’s, A River Runs Again: India’s Natural World in Crisis

It is hard to imagine a growing population supporting a steady state economy. “Jobs” and higher incomes for growing numbers of people anchor the platforms of political candidates and economists worldwide.

But what about a different approach?

Posts

by Taylor Lange

by Max Kummerow

by Johanna Cohn

by Neil Tracey

by Madeline Baker

by Max Kummerow