Think Economic Growth Is the Be-All? Think Again
There are better ways to measure well-being than old-style economic models focused on maximizing consumption.
Growth at all costs?
Photograph: Christian Science Monitor
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Politicians and economists have for years now worried about dwindling productivity growth — the failure of economies in recent years to keep producing ever more valuable output with the same quantity of inputs. Nearly all economists think we need more productivity growth if we're to restore steady economic growth. In the U.K., the opposition Labour Party has just gone so far as to propose setting an explicit 3 percent productivity growth target for the Bank of England.
But are we right to place such store by ever-increasing economic growth?