Dilemmas of Economic Growth

Geo-scientists and economists carry on discussions of central problems of economic growth, including global warming and resource exhaustion, on the basis of sharply diverging assumptions about limits to economic growth. These divergent assumptions can be traced at least to the debate over N. Georges...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEastern economic journal Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 283 - 295
Main Author Foley, Duncan K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Palgrave Macmillan 01.07.2012
Palgrave Macmillan UK
SeriesEastern Economic Journal
Subjects
Audiences
Capitalism
Commercial production
Economic growth
Economic growth theories
Economic resources
Economic theory
Economic Theory/Quantitative Economics/Mathematical Methods
Economics
Economics and Finance
Economists
Emission standards
Emissions
Energy
Entropy
Externality
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Growth models
Long run economic growth
Political economy
Presidential Address
Production functions
Simulation
Social impact
Studies
Thermodynamics
Welfare economics
O1
Georgescu-Roegen
O3
limits to growth
services economy
O4
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Summary:Geo-scientists and economists carry on discussions of central problems of economic growth, including global warming and resource exhaustion, on the basis of sharply diverging assumptions about limits to economic growth. These divergent assumptions can be traced at least to the debate over N. Georgescu-Roegen's work on entropy and economic production. Limited evidence indicates that economic growth sufficient to raise world average productivity to current European standards is at the edge of feasibility in terms of renewable energy. Rosy expectations that information technology can produce a "new" economy not subject to the resource and social limitations of traditional capitalism confuse new methods of appropriation of surplus value as rent with new methods of producing value. While the world economy will almost certainly transform from the small population, low labor productivity, rich fossil fuel-based resource base of the industrial revolution to a large population, high productivity, resource limited pattern, the social relations accompanying this change are far from certain or determined.
ISSN:0094-5056
1939-4632
DOI:10.1057/eej.2012.10