Economic growth-meritorious or meretricious: A review of social limits to growth

V. Kerry Smith

doi:10.1016/0038-0121(78)90002-2

Economic growth-meritorious or meretricious: A review of social limits to growth

V. Kerry Smith

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The recent literature on economic growth has seen a reemergence of the questioning of the value of economic growth. Prominent among this new literature is a set of contributions which seek to evaluate the social implications of the pattern of economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to review an important component of this literature-Hirsch's recent book Social Limits to Growth. The central arguments of Hirsch's analysis are evaluated from a general perspective and compared to the balance of the literature. All of the recent additions in this area seem to question the role of markets and values derived based on consumer sovereignty to establish the end results of economic activity and to evaluate the alternative possible resource allocations to obtain them.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	61-65
Number of pages	5
Journal	Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
Volume	12
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0121(78)90002-2
State	Published - 1978

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Economics and Econometrics
Strategy and Management
Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty
Management Science and Operations Research

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10.1016/0038-0121(78)90002-2

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title = "Economic growth-meritorious or meretricious: A review of social limits to growth",

abstract = "The recent literature on economic growth has seen a reemergence of the questioning of the value of economic growth. Prominent among this new literature is a set of contributions which seek to evaluate the social implications of the pattern of economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to review an important component of this literature-Hirsch's recent book Social Limits to Growth. The central arguments of Hirsch's analysis are evaluated from a general perspective and compared to the balance of the literature. All of the recent additions in this area seem to question the role of markets and values derived based on consumer sovereignty to establish the end results of economic activity and to evaluate the alternative possible resource allocations to obtain them.",

author = "Smith, {V. Kerry}",

note = "Funding Information: {\textquoteleft}FFellow, Quality of the Environment Division, Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C. Thanks are due an anonymous referee for helpful comments on an earlier version and to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for partial support for this research. *Mill did not, however, feel that such developments were necessarily limiting or undesirable. He observed that: “I cannot, therefore, regard the stationary state of capital and wealth with the unaffected aversion so generally manifested toward it by ipolitical economists of the old school. I am inclined to believe that it would be, on the whole, a very considerable improvement on our present condition”[l, 7481.",

year = "1978",

doi = "10.1016/0038-0121(78)90002-2",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "12",

pages = "61--65",

journal = "Socio-Economic Planning Sciences",

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T1 - Economic growth-meritorious or meretricious

T2 - A review of social limits to growth

AU - Smith, V. Kerry

N1 - Funding Information: ‘FFellow, Quality of the Environment Division, Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C. Thanks are due an anonymous referee for helpful comments on an earlier version and to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for partial support for this research. *Mill did not, however, feel that such developments were necessarily limiting or undesirable. He observed that: “I cannot, therefore, regard the stationary state of capital and wealth with the unaffected aversion so generally manifested toward it by ipolitical economists of the old school. I am inclined to believe that it would be, on the whole, a very considerable improvement on our present condition”[l, 7481.

PY - 1978

Y1 - 1978

N2 - The recent literature on economic growth has seen a reemergence of the questioning of the value of economic growth. Prominent among this new literature is a set of contributions which seek to evaluate the social implications of the pattern of economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to review an important component of this literature-Hirsch's recent book Social Limits to Growth. The central arguments of Hirsch's analysis are evaluated from a general perspective and compared to the balance of the literature. All of the recent additions in this area seem to question the role of markets and values derived based on consumer sovereignty to establish the end results of economic activity and to evaluate the alternative possible resource allocations to obtain them.

AB - The recent literature on economic growth has seen a reemergence of the questioning of the value of economic growth. Prominent among this new literature is a set of contributions which seek to evaluate the social implications of the pattern of economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to review an important component of this literature-Hirsch's recent book Social Limits to Growth. The central arguments of Hirsch's analysis are evaluated from a general perspective and compared to the balance of the literature. All of the recent additions in this area seem to question the role of markets and values derived based on consumer sovereignty to establish the end results of economic activity and to evaluate the alternative possible resource allocations to obtain them.

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Economic growth-meritorious or meretricious: A review of social limits to growth

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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