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

A Post-COVID Vision: The Full and Sustainable Employment Act

May 19, 2020/28 Comments/in Brian Czech, Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Jobs and Employment, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that the Great God of GDP is a false god after all, impotent as Baal. The mighty American economy, with unprecedented GDP, has been knocked to its knees by one of the lowest conceivable life forms, a mere virus possessing not a single strand of DNA. Politicians who thought their legacies would be associated with “the greatest economy ever” now look like ridiculous priests of a sham religion.

New Zealand Deprioritizes Growth to Improve Health and Wellbeing

May 12, 2020/2 Comments/in Consumption, Environment, Monetary Policy, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

Last May, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern released a budget to improve the “wellbeing” of citizens rather than focusing on productivity and GDP growth. And, not so coincidentally, New Zealand has one of the best coronavirus outcomes of any democracy in the world. Perhaps this provides a global model to make economic health cohere with health for all life.

To improve wellbeing, Ardern emphasized goals that focus on care for people and the planet.

The Silver Lining of the COVID-Caused Recession is Supra-Economic

March 24, 2020/21 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

COVID-19 has done in a deadly way what steady-state economists would prescribe in a healthy way: putting the brakes on a runaway economy. In fact, the pandemic has slammed on the brakes and jammed the GDP gearstick into reverse. It has ushered us into a recession that will be pronounced and protracted. In a COVID-caused recession, it’s nature at bat, not the Fed.

In these dark times, any source of comfort is welcome.