The Great Debate: Is There a Limit?

“Yes”

• Physiocrats

• Classical economists

• Ecological economists

• Ecologists

“No”

• Neoclassical economists

• Corporations

• Politicians

=$

$

$$

The “Information Economy”

• What is the information used for?

• How does one come to afford the information?

And yet we hear:

“Some people just don’t get it.

There is no conflict between

economic growth and

environmental protection!”

Why do they persist?

Goals• Replace national goal of “economic

growth” with national goal of steady state economy.

• Replace bloating economy with steady state economy.

Revolutions 

• Magnitude of change

• Pace of change

• “When evolution won’t cut it”

• Evolution combined with revolt

Steady State Revolution

• Academic, social

• Peaceable, not pacifistic

• Models–abolition of child labor

–reduction of smoking

Academic Phase

• Replacement of neoclassical

economic growth theory

• Refocusing of curricula

• More public outreach

Social Phase• “Economic growth” reconstructed

as economic bloating

• Dollar spent is dollar burned

• Castigation of the liquidating class

Class Structure of the Steady State Revolution

•  Liquidating class

• Steady state class

• Amorphic class

Percentile: 80 99 100

Expenditures

Consumption Classes

Percentile: 80 99 100

Expenditures

Consumption Classes

Percentile: 80 99 100

Expenditures

Consumption Classes

Percentile: 80 99 100

Expenditures

Consumption Classes

Liquidators

Steady Staters

Amorphs

                      

Amorphic Class

Steady State Class

Liquidating Class

Amorphic Class

Liquidating Class

Steady State Class

Economic Rationale

• “Trickle-down consumption”

• Redistribution of wealth compensates for reduced per capita consumption

• Reduction of waste

• Leads toward steady state economy

Liquidators

Amorphs

Ecological Capacity

PovertyLineSome Steady Staters

Most Steady Staters

Liquidators

Amorphs Liquidators

Amorphs

Steady Staters

Ecological Capacity

PovertyLineSome Steady Staters

Most Steady Staters

Political Rationale

• No “everyone revolt against everybody”

• Taps into predisposition

• Readily identifiable classes

Psychological Rationale

• Darwin, Veblen, Maslow

• Cure for “liquidator syndrome”

• Ratcheting effect toward

sustainable ideology

Maslow’s Hierarchy 1) Food

2) Security

3) Love, affection, reproduction

4) Self-esteem

5) Self-actualization

Sociopolitical Rationale

• Ideological horse before the public

policy cart

• Supplementary to policy

prescriptions

• Replaces politicians, not system

Ethics I • Equity (current, intergenerational)

• Consistent with religions: Buddhist,

Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Judaic

• “Devil in the details” of castigation

• Tolerance overrated

Ethics II• “Why do they hate Americans?”

– It’s the economy, stupid!

– Conspicuous consumption not everything, but

major thing

• SSR beats violent alternatives

• “Speaking truth to power”

K

GD

P

Time