Economists occasionally point out that societies generally move to the right during periods of sustained low growth and economic stress. Yet left-leaning advocates of low or even no growth policies rarely acknowledge the conflict between their antipathy towards growth and the sort of social values they like to see prevail. While some “the end of growth is nigh” types are simply expressing doubt that 20th century rates of increase can be attained in an era of resource scarcity, others see a low-growth future as attractive, even virtuous, with smaller, more autonomous, more cohesive communities. Perhaps they should be careful what they wish for. Robert Shiller, in Parallels to 1937 at Project Syndicate argues for easing up on sanctions against Russia because low growth might have spurred the conflict in the first place. Although his article focuses on the risks of the conflict in Eastern Europe devolving into war, his reasoning has broader implications. (Yves Smith) Shiller warns: nakedcapitalism/2014/09/are-advanced-economies-mature-enough-to-handle-no-growth.html
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:28:21 +0000