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The people blasting us about a population crisis are not the same as those decrying the environmental crisis; quite the opposite. Dropping population is bad for
by askvictor 4y ago
The people blasting us about a population crisis are not the same as those decrying the environmental crisis; quite the opposite. Dropping population is bad for the economy, as is giving a crap about the environment.
- mytailorisrich 4y agoThere is a big overlap if only because governments complain about both in their official communication to the public. Regarding the economy, I think we need to shift paradigm from measuring the size of the economy overall, which indeed obviously benefits from ever more people, to focusing on figures per capita. Ultimately the whole point of economic growth is to make people better off individually and we can do that with a decreasing population, in fact perhaps a decreasing population helps achieving that by forcing companies to increase productivity as much as possible instead of relying on abundant and cheap labour.
- georgeecollins 4y agoAlso, its like saying the economy will shrink, which may be true, but not necessarily that the per capita economy will shrink. Obviously Japan -- for example -- can function as a nation with a fraction of its current population. Less labor is good for people who sell their labor, but bad for people who buy labor (capital).
- ztrww 4y agoGDP per capital will shrink if the proportion of the working population declines.That’s pretty obvious > people who buy labor so basically everyone unless you grow your own food etc.?
- georgeecollins 4y ago>> GDP per capital will shrink if the proportion of the working population declines.That’s pretty obvious Only if productivity / price of labor is constant. Which it isn't over time historically.