Put a Stop to Economic Growth? Huge Mistake
A halt would do great harm to poor countries that need to raise living standards.
This road leads to nowhere.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergOne of the more pernicious ideas now coming into vogue is that societies should voluntarily halt their economic growth. In a recent New Yorker article, John Cassidy chronicles the rise of this so-called degrowth movement. The idea holds appeal for environmentalists concerned about planetary destruction, egalitarians who worry that growth leaves the poor behind, futurists who envision a leisure society and so on. Degrowth might even be a way for citizens of wealthy, declining nations to maintain their pride as hungrier up-and-coming societies catch up, since it recasts economic slowdown as virtue.
Although the degrowth movement does contain a few nuggets of insight, it’s based on a number of misconceptions about what economic growth is and why it’s desirable.