Red Deficits, Green Common Sense: Steady State Economics 101

These days we are keenly aware of budget constraints at local, state, and national levels. The planet has a budget, too, and we’re in the red. We got there by liquidating our stocks of “natural capital,” most notably oil, in the pursuit of economic growth. Yet common sense tells us that economic growth – increasing production and consumption of goods and services in the aggregate – is not a sustainable option, and that pulling out all the stops for growth is causing more problems than it solves. It’s really “uneconomic” growth, with the costs to society (and posterity) far exceeding the benefits. Unfortunately our common sense has been battered by political rhetoric that “there is no conflict between growing the economy and protecting the environment.” What we need is a dose of steady state economics. With "Red Deficits, Green Common Sense" we’ll consider limits to growth, the concept of the steady state economy, and the prospect for “steady statesmanship” in our political future.