Thread by @Noahpinion

1/In today's @bopinion post, I explain why economic growth is still good, and still important.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

2/The "degrowth" movement marshals a number of arguments against growth:
A) growth is unsustainable
B) growth destroys the planet
C) growth doesn't make us better off anyway

Each contains some grain of truth, but all are ultimately misguided.

newyorker.com/magazine/2020/…

3/First, let's address the idea that politicians in the U.S. and other rich countries are obsessed with economic growth.

They aren't really. What they really care about is employment. It's just that growth happens to be correlated with employment.

frbsf.org/economic-resea…

4/So long-run growth isn't what politicians really mean when they trumpet "growth" numbers.

BUT, long-run growth IS a good and necessary thing. And very possible. Let's dig into the reasons why.

5/First, is it really true that growth means using ever more of the Earth's natural resources?

People like Vaclav Smil claim that it does. But there's good reason to believe they're wrong.

amazon.com/More-Less-Surp…

6/Rich countries like the U.S. are actually using LESS of many core natural resources, like fresh water, metals, and energy, even as they continue to grow economically.

7/Carbon emissions are another example. Many rich nations are now decreasing their total emissions even as their economies continue to grow.

And YES, this graph DOES include emissions that are outsourced to other countries!

8/How is growth compatible with DECREASING resource use? How???

Two basic ways:

1. Technology that allows us to do more with less

2. Shifting to less resource-intensive ways of satisfying our desires

9/Many degrowthers argue that economic growth physically can't continue forever. But they don't seem to understand that growth isn't about how many resources you use. It's also about finding new and better ways to use what you have.

noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/murphy…

10/OK, so growth CAN continue for a very long time, without destroying the planet.

But SHOULD it?

It's true that GDP is only one of many measures of human well-being, and that growing GDP doesn't necessarily leave people better off.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

11/And it is also true that slowing growth in rich countries isn't necessarily something to be alarmed about, since it's partly due to the fact that economies have matured.

amazon.com/Fully-Grown-St…

12/But the world still needs economic growth, for two big reasons.

First reason: Poor countries. There are still many countries where people don't have decent living standards. This needs to change.

13/If rich countries stop growing, it means less demand for the products of poor countries, which makes it much harder for them to develop, and traps hundreds of millions or even billions of people in poverty.

14/The second big reason we need growth is, yes, to save the environment.

As countries go from poor to rich, they generally become better environmental stewards - because they can afford to be.

link.springer.com/article/10.100…

15/Also, the invention and implementation of environmentally sustainable technology IS economic growth.

Building solar panels and mass transit and batteries and wind farms and retrofitting old buildings. This is all GROWTH!

https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1228058843562663939

16/So for the sake of the global poor and the sake of the global environment, growth must continue - as long as it is growth of the green, environmentally sustainable kind.

(end)

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…