Green Accounting Bibliography Entry
Nordhaus, William D. and James Tobin. 1972. "Is growth obsolete?" Economic Growth, 50th anniversary colloquium V. New York: Columbia University Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research. Reprinted in: Milton Moss (ed.), The Measurement of Economic and Social Performance, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 38, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1973. [
full text]
One of the first papers acknowledging imperfections in our national income measures. The conclusion: Is growth obsolete? We think not. Although GNP and other national income aggregates are imperfect measures of welfare, the broad picture of secular progress which they convey remains after correction of their most obvious deficiencies. At present there is no reason to arrest general economic growth to conserve natural resources, although there is good reason to provide proper economic incentives to conserve resources which currently cost their users less than true social cost. Population growth cannot continue indefinitely, and evidently it is already slowing down in the United States. This slowdown will significantly increase sustainable per capita consumption. But even with ZPG [zero population growth] there is no reason to shut off technological progress. The classical stationary state need not become our utopian norm. (p. 24)
Posted by Gernot Wagner on 1/01/1990. 