Economic Growth Archives – Page 2 of 20 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

A Steady State Sustains All Boats

April 13, 2023/4 Comments/in Economic Growth, Inequality, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wealth /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

An important recent article on resource use and its environmental impacts starts from the premise that “the planet’s resources and ecosystems are a commons, and… all people are entitled to an equal, sustainable share.” Alas, the world today deviates wildly from this norm. Indeed, inequality—of resource use, but also of income and wealth—is extremely high today and is actually worsened by economic growth. What’s more, it is bad for our politics,

Even AI Understands Limits to Growth

April 6, 2023/9 Comments/in Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Gary Gardner

by Cole Thompson

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is attracting great attention as working AI systems become accessible to the public. The AI claim is that it can digest the mass of knowledge that humanity has made public, then perform cognitive tasks with that knowledge or answer questions with speed and accuracy. This has many implications, some potentially worrisome. But when AI works well, it can serve up some interesting “truths.”

While AI does not generate authoritative or definitive information—you wouldn’t bet your savings on its output—my sense is that its findings often deserve a hearing.

A “Final Warning” on Climate

March 30, 2023/6 Comments/in Climate Change, Corporate Reform, Corruption, Environment, Gary Gardner, Politics, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued what Greenpeace International called the “final warning” in the global effort to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. After three decades of increasingly insistent wake-up calls, the Panel laid out the sobering reality: Meeting the temperature goal set by the global community in 2015 is impossible without an immediate response, “a quantum leap in climate action,” in the words of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

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.

Happiness Matters, Even in a Steady State Economy! Part 1: Sustainable Hedonism

February 23, 2023/7 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Gary Gardner

by Orsolya Lelkes

From a historical perspective, we should be living in the happiest of all worlds. Ours is a culture ostensibly centered around happiness: The mainstream neoclassical economic system aims to maximize pleasure (utility) for all, and is based on the assumption that we humans seek the greatest pleasure and the least pain, and that this quest is the main driver of our actions.

Happiness has also been a philosophical,

What About the Other Debt Ceiling?

February 2, 2023/6 Comments/in Economic Policy, Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

Official Washington is all aflutter over whether Congress should raise the ceiling on U.S. government debt. But this is not the most pressing debt question our country faces.

To see why, step back and enlarge the frame. A new question emerges: Why would Congress create an artificial and wholly unnecessary debt crisis while ignoring a far more dangerous and decidedly real debt trap? I speak of our ballooning ecological debt,

COP15: The Good, the Bad, and the Smugly

January 19, 2023/5 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Policy, Environment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

On a scale of one to ten, COP15—the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal last month—was a solid five. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but it represents significant progress from prior COPs, which dabbled along in the one or two range for the better part of three decades. The progress was evident from the start, when UN Secretary General António Guterres kicked off the conference by noting,

Fusion Energy: A Different Take

January 5, 2023/22 Comments/in Energy, Environment, Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Gary Gardner

The recent news that scientists moved a step closer to fusion energy was greeted with enthusiasm and awe in much of the media, a bright spot of cheer amid the ongoing drumbeat of existential global threats. Only the most cynical of curmudgeons could pooh-pooh this hopeful development—right?

After all, energy is the foundation of human development. Civilizational advance is a tale of ongoing successes in shaping energy for human ends.

In Commemoration: A Sampling of Herman Daly

November 17, 2022/7 Comments/in Brian Czech, Herman Daly, Peace, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Herman Daly (posthumously) — Introduction by Brian Czech

Given the recent, tragic passing of Herman Daly, we allocate this week’s Steady State Herald to the wise words of Daly himself. From 2010-2018, Herman was a regular contributor to The Daly News, CASSE’s blog before the Herald was launched. (Herman’s modesty almost prevented us from naming the blog after him, but he was outnumbered by CASSE staff and board,

Posts

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

by Cole Thompson

by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

by Gary Gardner

by Herman Daly (posthumously) — Introduction by Brian Czech