Tag: Malthusianism
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Are Economic Output and Energy Consumption Decoupling?
Washington Post: Can we sever the link between energy and economic growth? This is a very important story that is easily overlooked. Why? People genuinely concerned about global economic growth frequently default into a Malthusian thought process. It goes something like this. We have X amount of economic activity today, and that economic activity requires…
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We are not running out of commodities
I've been writing about the common misperception of the economy as a zero-sum game and the fear that we will soon (or ever) run out of nonrenewable resources. This is counterintuitive to so many people that I need to address it in detail. I wrote a draft of this section for my book, but I…
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Economics at the Jesus Creed: Michael Kruse 4
My fourth post on economics is up at Jesus Creed. It focuses on sustainable growth and whether we are running out of natural resources. Feel free to join us there for discussion. Economics at the Jesus Creed: Michael Kruse 4
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Consumption vs. Consumerism (Part 2)
Scot McKnight completed a great series on Adam Hamilton's new book Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics. I have the book but haven't read it yet. I have a lot of respect for Hamilton, and I'm looking forward to reading it. However, in the course of…
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Malthus, the false prophet
The Economist: Malthus, the false prophet The pessimistic parson and early political economist remains as wrong as ever. AMID an astonishing surge in food prices, which has sparked riots and unrest in many countries and is making even the relatively affluent citizens of America and Europe feel the pinch, faith in the ability of global…
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Economic Fallacies: “Linear Projection”
The Linear Projection Fallacy projects present circumstances and trends endlessly into the future without allowing for innovation and societal change. There are about 300 million people in the USA today. About 13% (39 million) would say they were Black, and another 13% would say they were Hispanic. Let's say that by this century's end, we…
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The Real Climate Change Alarmists
One of my favorite movie scenes is from the 1984 Bill Murray classic Ghostbusters. Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"? Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff. Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly. Dr Ray Stantz:…
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Humans living far beyond planet’s means: WWF
From Yahoo! News: Humans living far beyond planet's means: WWF (WWF is World Wildlife Foundation. Not to be confused with the venerable World Wrestling Federation.) BEIJING (Reuters) – Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the WWF conservation…