THE STEADY-STATE ECONOMY: TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF B - PowerPoint Presentation

1. THE STEADY-STATE ECONOMY: TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF Biophysical EQUILIBRIUM AND MORAL GROWTH - DalyDaly, Herman (editor). Toward a Steady-State Economy. Freeman. San Francisco 1973. pp 149-174Ben Kreisman; Ecological Economics

2. Fragmentation of knowledge and people by excessive specializationDisequilibrium between the human economy and the natural ecosystemCongestion and pollution of our spatial dimension of existenceCongestion and pollution of our temporal dimension of existence with the resulting state of harried drivennessGROWTHMANIA

3. povertyunemploymentinflationpollution and depletionwargrow more to provide more employment for the poorinvest and grow to bolster aggregate demandgrow by raising productivity so more goods will be chased by the same number of dollars and prices will fallgrow to become rich enough to afford the costs of cleaning up and of discovering new resources and technologiesgrow to be strong and have both guns and butterGROWTH IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING

4. At what levels should the stocks of wealth and people be maintained constant?What is the optimal level of maintenance throughput for a given level of stocks?What is the optimal time horizon or accounting period over which population and wealth are required to be constant?What is the optimal rate of transition from the growing economy to the steady-state economy?“…defined as an economy which the total population and the total stock of physical wealth are maintained constant at some desired levels by a ‘minimal’ rate of maintenance throughput”THE STEADY-STATE

5. maintaining constant populationsmaintaining constant stock of physical wealthgoverning distributionguiding design principle for social institutionsprovide the necessary control with a minimum sacrifice to personal freedomprovide macrostability, allowing for microvariabilitycombine macrostatic with microdynamicSocial institutions of control (3)

6. 1. maintaining constant populationsKenneth Boulding plan for birth certificatesinitial allocation is equal across the marketcompensation for people suffering from infertilityrich can purchase more credits, but ultimately decrease per capita income2. maintaining constant stock of physical wealthcontrol aggregate depletion rather than control pollutionlegal rights to deplete auctioned offpopulation /economic growth increase demand = higher prices and less consumption3. governing distributionSet limits for the maximum and minimum amount of wealth and incomesupports concept of property rights, but only under the assumption that everyone owns some propertywould legitimize free-market systemSocial institutions of control (3)

7. Based on the assumption of static morality, logic and necessity are not sufficient to bring social change“…progress chiefly depends on the extent to which the strongest and not merely the highest forces of human nature can be utilized” – Alfred MarshallOn moral growth

8. Sermon on the Mount: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own evil be sufficient for the day”Karl Marx’s materialism and objection to the alienation of man from nature;recognized that nature is the ‘inorganic body if man’ and not just a pile of neutral stuff to be dominated‘wholeness’If ‘truth’ is whole, then current knowledge is so far from the truth that knowledge is not worth obtaining “…unless physical, social and moral dimensions of our knowledge are integrated in a unified paradigm offering a vision of wholeness, no solutions to our problems are likely.”Morality of the steady-state

9. “…to advance the steady-state economy, with stabilized population and consumption, as a policy goal with widespread public support.”CASSE top 15 policies for achieving a steady-state economyAdopt macro-economic policy goal – a steady-state economyMaintain exemplary network of conservation areas sufficient in size to support ecosystem servicesStabilize populationGradually reset existing fiscal, monetary and trade policy levers from growth towards steady-stateLimit the range of inequality in income and wealthDevelop a commons sector to accompany the public/private sectors; assign property rights for commonly held resourcesEmploy cap-and-trade auctions in commons sector for allocating resourcesEstablish for flexible working day/week/yearOverhaul banking regulations; elimination of fractional reserve banking so monetary systems move away from debt structure that requires economic growthAdjust zoning policies to limit sprawl and promote energy conservationContinue to monitor GDP as a a measure of the size of the economy; use other measures for welfarePrevent unconstrained capital mobilityWork towards full utilization of costs in pricesInstitute policies that move away from globalization and towards localization (conservation)Limit advertising to prevent unnecessary demandsteadystate.org