The growth delusionPilling, David (Editor)
The growth delusion
by Pilling, David (Editor) · first published 2018
7mentions
4recommended by
5HN commenters
2018–2026first – last mentioned
80% recommend20% neutral
"A provocative critique of the pieties and fallacies of our obsession with economic growth We live in a society in which a priesthood of economists, wielding impenetrable mathematical formulas, set the framework for public debate. Ultimately, it is the perceived health of the economy which determines how much we can spend on our schools, highways, and defense; economists decide how much unemployment is acceptable and whether it is right to print money or bail out profligate banks. The backlash we are currently witnessing suggests that people are turning against the experts and their faulty und
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
People believe you need growth, but you don't and there are major problems with it. I just read and recommend The Growth Delusion https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Delusion-Poverty-Well-Being-Na..., which talked about problems with growth and alternatives to its most common measure, GDP.
on “After rising for 100 years, electricity demand is flat” ↗…100,000 years. They enjoyed more leisure time with less work than us. By contrast, in under 250 years since Adam Smith our culture's growth is trashing the planet in nearly every place we measure. The Growth Delusion develops and documents problems with growth further https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Delusion-Poverty-Well-Being-Na.... Many times we make an advance like, say, anesthetics, growth leads to things like…
on “US utilities have finally realized electric cars may save them” ↗Consider reading The Growth Delusion by David Pilling https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Delusion-Poverty-Well-Being-Na...
on “Businesses should try to be the best, not the biggest” ↗The book the 'Growth Delusion' has some great examples on this as well. To quote the FTs[1] review of the book. "The official protocols define the scope of GDP as measuring all monetised activity between willing parties in a given…
on “Do not mistake a resilient global economy for populist success” ↗…problem. I put leadership in quotes because there is a difference between leadership and management, so I'd say it's more of a management problem (with a lack of leadership). Check out the books "The Growth Delusion" by David Pilling and "The Tyranny of Metrics" by Jerry Muller if you're interested in this topic. I think this could potentially be a foundational problem in some western countries. Does a focus on…
on “Life is Better in places with lower GDP” ↗The Growth Delusion covers the pros, the cons, & the alternatives https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36130581-the-growth-delu...
on “Gross domestic product is a misleading measure of national success (2014)” ↗For those looking to read the content but stymied by FT's paywall, the author has just published a book, The Growth Delusion, and discusses it in numerous other articles. Unpaywalled: http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-03-31/the-growth-delu...
on “The case against GDP: time to change the way we measure the wealth of nations” ↗