WHY ECONOMIC GROWTH IS NEVER SUSTAINABLE

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivars Brīvers
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Theory ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Global Crisis ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The People ◽  
State Economy

The first decade of the XXI century clearly shows that the notion of the people concerning the values and goals in economy should be revised. As a result of global crisis economic theory may experience essential changes, as it was during the Great Depression in the XX century. The aim of the paper is to show the necessity of reconsidering the goals in economy. The hypothesis is that growth economy has become non-sustainable and it should be substituted by an economy of a different design – steady-state economy. The paper contains a review and analysis of various ideas about the problem, focusing mainly on the interpretation of the notion of sustainable development and the costs and benefits of economic growth; the way, how we measure things in economy and about the widespread illusions about the possibility of perpetual economic growth. The conclusion is that any growth, including economic growth is never sustainable.

scholarly journals How Interest Causes Unemployment

ICR Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-307
Author(s):  
Abdul Karim Abdullah (Leslie Terebessy)
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Theory ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
The Great Depression

A number of nations are currently mired in an economic recession. Conventional economic theory seems unable to point to a way out. Many households, individuals, firms and even governments are trapped in sizable levels of debt. Keynes argued in favour of overcoming the Great Depression by raising government spending in order to stimulate economic growth. This was to be financed by borrowing. This solution worked then but is unlikely to work now, as many governments are already deeply in debt.  

To Raise the Golden Anchor? Financial Crises and Uncertainty During the Great Depression

1999 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 624-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Peter Ferderer ◽  
David A. Zalewski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Financial Crises ◽  
Capital Flight ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Interest Rate Volatility

This study examines the interplay between financial crises, uncertainty, and economic growth during the interwar period. Comparing the experiences of ten countries, we provide evidence that reductions in the credibility of a country's commitment to the gold standard generated capital flight and higher interest rate volatility. This volatility, in turn, was inversely correlated with economic growth. These results suggest that financial crises helped propagate the Great Depression, in part, by increasing uncertainty.

Unemployment and fraud during the Great Depression in New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Radiah Othman ◽  
Rashid Ameer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Extreme Condition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The People ◽  
Financial Crimes ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
New Zealanders

Purpose This paper aims to provide a historical understanding of the unemployment context experienced by the New Zealand population during the Great Depression, which might have caused people to commit financial crimes, such as fraud, to survive. Design/methodology/approach The main source of information is narratives from newspaper articles published by 42 newspapers from 1931 to 1950 that explore New Zealanders’ experiences during declined economic conditions. Findings During the period studied, New Zealanders suffered because of various challenges, mainly unemployment. The government’s response was criticised by the people who used the newspapers as a medium to unleash their frustration about the fairness of unemployment relief for the unemployed and taxation of those who were employed. Some people who struggled in between jobs, as well as some who found themselves being disadvantaged, turned to deviant behaviour such as fraud. The fraudsters might be thought of as the victims of the day, committing a crime of survival, not a crime of choice. Research limitations/implications This research promotes more historical studies to enrich fraud-auditing literature. The lack of detailed information reported in the newspapers during this period limits making specific links to individual circumstances. Originality/value Fraudsters have always been perceived as responsible for their destinies, but a wider social and political context is rarely examined in fraud cases. The period chosen for this paper represents the extreme condition in which the elements of motive, opportunity and rationalisation are all interwoven into one.

Learning about Growth and Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 1195-1212
Author(s):  
SCOTT F. ABRAMSON ◽  
SERGIO MONTERO
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The World ◽  
Past Experiences

We develop and estimate a model of learning that accounts for the observed correlation between economic development and democracy and for the clustering of democratization events. In our model, countries’ own and neighbors’ past experiences shape elites’ beliefs about the effects of democracy on economic growth and their likelihood of retaining power. These beliefs influence the choice to transition into or out of democracy. We show that learning is crucial to explaining observed transitions since the mid-twentieth century. Moreover, our model predicts reversals to authoritarianism if the world experienced a growth shock the size of the Great Depression.

scholarly journals The Great Depression analogy

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bordo ◽  
Harold James
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Human History ◽  
Industrial Activity ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The World ◽  
Bank Of England ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Economic Outlook

In the discussion of our contemporary economic disease, the Great Depression analogy refuses to go away. Almost every policy-maker referred to conditions that had ‘not been seen since the Great Depression’, even before the failure of Lehman. Some even went further – the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England notably called the crisis the worst ‘financial crisis in human history’. In its April 2009 World Economic Outlook, the IMF looked explicitly at the analogy not only in the collapse of financial confidence, but also in the rapid decline of trade and industrial activity across the world. In general, history rather than economic theory seems to offer a guide in interpreting wildly surprising and inherently unpredictable events. Some observers, notably Paul Krugman, have concluded that a Dark Age of macroeconomics has set in.

scholarly journals The Ultimate Fox in Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes

2018 ◽  
Vol 214 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Instructor Marwa Ghazi Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The People ◽  
Human Value ◽  
American Society ◽  
Moral Themes

         Lillian Hellman was an American playwright whose name was associated with the moral values of the early twentieth century. Her plays were remarkable for the moral themes that dealt with the evil. They were distinguished, as well, for the depiction of characters who are still alive in the American drama for their vivid personalities, effective roles and realistic portrayal. This paper studies Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes as a criticism of the American society in the early twentieth-century. Though America was a country built on hopes and dreams of freedom and happiness. During the Great Depression, happiness was certainly not present in many people's lives. The presence of alternate political ideas, decay of love and values increased life's problems, and considered a stress inducing factor were popular themes to be explored during the Great Depression. America, the land of promises, became an empty world revolving around money and material well-being and which turned the people bereft of love, and human values. Hellman’s play presents the real fox, represented by the political and material world, as the one responsible for the raise of new kind of people, the little foxes, and the decline of human value.

scholarly journals Urban Sustainability Index: Measuring Performance of 15 Metropolitan Cities of India

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Utkarsh Patel ◽  
Satarupa Rakshit ◽  
S. Ashwin Ram ◽  
Zareena Begum Irfan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Development Economic ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Metropolitan Regions ◽  
The People ◽  
Metropolitan Cities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Present Pattern

Around the world, sustainable development has become a top policy discussion as countries struggle to maintain or enhance economic growth without compromising the future. Nowhere is the issue more pressing than in India, where urban areas and their economies are expected to grow rapidly over the next few decades and where resource use and environmental quality are already raising grave concerns. Sustainable development, economic growth that improves the lives of the people without exhausting the environment or other resources, is especially critical in developing countries, where mass urbanization is taking place at a time when man’s impact on the environment has reached a critical juncture. The study investigates if the present pattern of urban development in India in the creation of mega cities is sustainable. The indicators represent a primary tool to provide guidance for policy makers and to potentially assist in decision-making and monitoring local strategies/plans. The outcome of the study will contribute to the design of policies, tools, and approaches essential for planning to attain the goal of sustainable development and the social cohesion of metropolitan regions.

scholarly journals Monetary Policy: From There to Here to Where?

2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Mark Sniderman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Federal Reserve ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
New Framework

Drawing from his long experience participating in the policymaking process at the Federal Reserve, chief policy officer Mark Sniderman shares his views on how the Federal Reserve's framework for conducting monetary policy has evolved over the past decade. He explains how changes in economic theory have helped shaped this new framework and how lessons learned from the Great Depression and Japan's recent struggle with deflation have contributed. This Commentary is based on a speech delivered at the Global Interdependence Conference, Tokyo, Japan, on December 4, 2012.

scholarly journals La Economía del Estado Estacionario: ¿El único camino hacia un futuro sostenible?

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (46) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Christian Kerschner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Theory ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Classical Mechanics ◽  
Weak Sense ◽  
Neoclassical Economic ◽  
A Value ◽  
Neoclassical Economic Theory ◽  
Value Concept

Los economistas ecológicos (p.ej.: Herman Daly) dicen que el desarrollo sostenible solo puede alcanzarse mediante un drástico cambio en nuestro sistema económico basado en el crecimiento. El crecimiento  económico  continuo siendo éste el objetivo de cualquier gobierno, es inherentemente incompatible con el desarrollo sostenible, a menos que el desarrollo sostenible sea definido de forma débil; es decir aceptando sustituibilidad entre capital producido por el hombre y capital natural. Esto ya se lleva actualmente a cabo por la teoría económica neoclásica, las raíces de la cual se encuentran en el concepto del valor, análogo al principio de conservación de la mecánica clásica. Algunos autores esgrimen que es este concepto del valor, combinado con la panacea del progreso tecnológico, lo que permite a la  teoría económica neoclásica creer en un crecimiento económico ilimitado.ABSTRACTEcological Economists (e.g.: Herman Daly) claim that sustainable development can only be achieved by drastically changing our growth based economic system. Continuous economic growth, which is the goal of every government, is inherently incompatible with sustainable development, unless sustainable development is defined in a weak sense; that is as accepting substitutability between human made and natural capital. This is currently done by neoclassical economic theory, the roots of which are based on a value concept, analogous with the conservation principle of classical mechanics. Some authors argue that it is this value concept combined with the panacea of technological progress, which allows neoclassical economic theory to believe in unlimited economic growth.

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